Dino Crisis 3 - Regina's Journey (Censored Version)
by chimanruler15
Summary: Here's a censored version of the story for you younger viewers out there (or those who don't like bad language at all). The plot's unchanged, though some wording in most of the chapters has been altered. Enjoy reading the story! Let me know if I missed anything!
1. Prologue

Regina arrived in another place in the present without a scratch. She couldn't believe that she actually returned to the present in one piece. The journey to get here was so tough, yet she managed to do it.

It was all thanks to the Timegate that brought her here.

–

On Regina's last mission, she encountered a high-tech facility. This facility contained so much technology, even enough to vaporize a giant dinosaur. Dylan, a soldier who worked together with her on the mission, was already there when she arrived. Regina also noticed that some girl was with him. It didn't take her long to realize that this was the girl whom she handcuffed to a control shack hours ago.

Why was Dylan with her? Regina wanted to know the answer to this question, but she brought her attention back to the current situation because for some odd reason, the building was about to self-destruct. The two soldiers needed to leave quickly.

The facility conveniently had a Timegate in another room, ready for Regina and her comrade Dylan to use. Unfortunately, just when things were bad enough, the violent rumbling and explosions of the building caused a supercomputer to land on the legs of the young girl.

The Timegate began to activate. Regina and Dylan struggled to get the giant computer off the girl's legs, but their efforts were in vain. Regina and Dylan looked at the helpless teenage girl as she stared at them in fear and pain. The two soldiers didn't know what to do next. They couldn't just leave her here. She was one of the missing survivors in this time, and it was their mission to save as many as possible. After all, she was an innocent child.

Time was running out. It was only a matter of time before the facility would explode. Dylan didn't want to leave the young girl behind, so he asked Regina to return to the present by herself and use the 3rd Energy Data Disk she found in another facility to build a Timegate in order to come back and pick him and his daughter up before the facility exploded.

"Are you crazy!?" Regina questioned.

"Paula's my future daughter, Regina. I can't leave my little girl behind," Dylan said, clearly referring to the young girl with a massive computer crushing her legs.

Regina was initially skeptical about the idea, but after hearing Dylan out, it seemed to be the only way, despite how crazy it sounded. After all, she couldn't break apart this family.

Regina agreed to the plan and saluted Dylan as a sign of farewell. She proceeded to leave. Just when she was in front of the Timegate, she turned back and looked at Dylan and Paula once more with a sad, regretful look.

Regina stepped through the Timegate moments before the facility exploded.

–

Now, here Regina was, somewhere in the present time, with the 3rd Energy Data Disk in her right pocket. She took out the disk and glanced at it, examining the shiny, square surface containing the little blue disk inside. This disk held the key to saving Dylan and Paula.

Regina ran the disk through her fingers and took some more time looking at it. She held it up to her face, noticing its faint reflection on the disk's glossy, clear surface.

Regina looked deeply into the reflection. She saw her eyes; they were emotional but grateful to be alive. She then remembered the promise she made to Dylan. Her face now took on a determined look. Regina was going to save Dylan and Paula, no matter how hard it was going to be. She was _not_ going to let two innocent people die.

Regina quickly put the disk back in her pocket. She then brought her attention to her location. She took a step forward and examined her surroundings. Regina was in a grassy open area between two bodies of water, one on each side of her. Just ahead of her seemed to be the outskirts of a nearby town. Behind her was the entrance to a forest.

Regina squinted as she peered towards the edge of the town. She quickly realized where she was.

"I'm right outside of my hometown," she said to herself.

Regina took a few steps forward and happily breathed in the air, arms outstretched. It felt nice to be back home. Killing numerous dinosaurs was too tiring and made her homesick.

As much as Regina wanted to lie down in the grass and relax after her arduous adventure, she could not rest now. Regina had a mission to do, and that mission was to save Dylan and Paula.

Regina began to run towards the town, determined to keep her promise to Dylan.


	2. Unexpected Trouble

The town looked pretty much the same to Regina as she walked down the main street. Everyone was wearing their same old Western clothes, and the small buildings and homes were virtually unchanged. The sky was blue, peaceful, calm, and cloudless. All is as it was...before the 3rd Energy Incident.

_Nothing's changed,_ Regina thought. _Good. I really am in the right place in time._

Despite the fact that there was a current, ongoing human crisis, the people around her didn't seem distressed in the least. In fact, many of them seemed to be content with their lives.

_People must really trust the government with their new plan to deal with the crisis. It's ironic that this stupid plan caused this whole mess I had to deal with in the first place. These people don't even know what's going to happen to them._

Regina couldn't help but cringe at this thought. Wanting to focus her attention elsewhere, she looked around the town, wondering where her destination was. It didn't take her long to find it.

"Aha!" Regina shouted, pointing to a high-tech laboratory. "There it is!"

Regina immediately ran towards the entrance of the building, guarded by a male security officer. As soon as she saw him, she stopped several feet from the entrance. The security guard stared at her with a puzzled look.

"Yes, can I help you?" the guard asked in a gravelly tone.

"Yes, I would like to enter the building, please," Regina answered.

"No unauthorized entry allowed," the guard firmly stated.

"Sir, I'm a S.O.R.T. member. My name's Regina. I'm sure you know who I am."

"So? I've met plenty of SORT members from your team who don't have permission to enter this building. You don't seem to have any proof of authorization, so I can't let you in."

"But, sir, it's an emergency!" Regina exclaimed.

"No unauthorized entry allowed," the guard repeated.

Regina became slightly frustrated. She knew that if she was going to get past this guy, she was going to have to make herself _look_ believable.

"Sir, do you know Gail?" Regina asked. "He's my boss. You are familiar with him, correct?"

"Yes, I know about him," the guard answered.

"My coming into the building was a direct order from him. I have permission to be here."

"If he sent you here, he would have given you a pass."

_Dang, this guy's good,_ Regina thought.

"He didn't have time to do so," Regina declared. "He had things to do."

"Doesn't seem like Gail to do a thing like this," the guard said.

"Gail's a _very_ busy man."

"So?"

"_So,_ it would be impractical for me to bother him about this little mishap while he's working, wouldn't it? ...Unless _you_ would like to tell him why you can't let me in the building." Regina pulled out a cell phone for the guard to use.

_I hope this works,_ Regina thought.

The guard was skeptical to Regina's words; he thought that she was bluffing. However, he didn't want any more trouble than he already had to deal with. After several moments of silence, the guard reached into his pocket, pulled out a green, laminated card, and swiped it into a card lock on the wall next to the metallic double doors of the entrance. The large doors opened slowly for a few seconds and stopped with a loud noise.

"You may go in," the guard said.

Regina couldn't believe what just happened. Her plan worked. "Okay," she replied. "Thank you, sir."

Regina slowly walked into the entrance of the facility. The guard closely watched her as she went in.

"I've got my eye on you," the guard said with a little growl.

"Not for long," Regina muttered under her breath, hiding a smirk.

"What?" the guard quickly asked in surprise.

"Oh, nothing!" Regina quickly answered back, nervously laughing.

The guard looked at her with an impatient look. "Just get into the building, lady," he said, growling.

Regina nodded and took a few steps into the building. The entrance doors slammed shut behind her.

_Someone's apparently mad,_ Regina humorously thought to herself. _He must really hate his job._

Putting that thought aside, Regina checked her surroundings. There were three brightly lit blue-walled corridors: one on each side of Regina and one directly in front of her. A map was on the left wall of the corridor ahead. Regina went up to it and looked for the RESEARCHERS' ROOM. She pinpointed it and saw that it was on the same floor she was on.

Regina continued down this same corridor and made a right at a T-intersection. She then made a left at the next T-intersection. Far ahead, along this hallway, was the Researchers' Room.


	3. The Plan

"Hey, Mark!" one of the researchers called out. "Did you get the battery to the Timegate, yet?"

"No," another researcher replied. "I haven't gotten it, yet, John."

"How are we supposed to built this Timegate for the government if we don't even have the necessary parts yet?" John asked in frustration. "You promised to get that battery."

John was the first member of the group of researchers. He was average, so there was nothing weird or special about him. The only distinct trait he had was having an issue with people who don't keep their promises.

"It's not my fault the dang thing is so hard to get!" Mark protested. "Anyway, we don't even have Dr. Kirk's plans to building the Timegate! The government hasn't given them to us yet and won't do it for a few more weeks, so why rush to get the other parts now?"

Mark was the second (and least nice) member of the group. He was impatient, impulsive, distant, rather cold, and sometimes rude; however, most of this stems from his tendency to get frustrated whenever he is unable to complete a task. Other than that, he can be a respectable person.

"I want us to be ready when the plans come in," John answered. "If we have all of the parts by then, we can immediately start the project."

"He does have a point, Mark," another researcher agreed. "It would be better to start now rather than wait later."

"Whatever, David," Mark muttered.

David was the third researcher in the group. He was polite, kind, and friendly. He was the youngest and most rational member of the group, as well as the most cautious.

"What about the other parts?" David asked.

"We don't have the 3rd Energy Data Disk, and the software upgrade hasn't been acquired," another researcher reported.

"Great, Paul, that's just great," Mark uttered in frustration. "Now we don't have any parts for the project."

"No need to blow a gasket, Mark," Paul retorted comically.

Paul was the fourth member of the group. He had a tendency to crack jokes, whether good or bad, sometimes at the expense of the people around him. Paul also loved to sing. He proclaimed himself as "the funniest member of the group."

"We should be able to get all of the mechanical parts of the machine," the last researcher stated.

"Not the point, Sean," Mark replied. "It's easy to get mechanical parts anywhere. The fact that we can't start immediately on the project and get this whole darn crisis over with is really frustrating."

Sean was the last member of the research squad. He was the smartest member of the group, as well as being a complete tech genius. Sean knew almost everything about technology and possessed many technological skills, such as hacking. He is also known to be quite patient, in direct contrast to Mark's personality.

"It is indeed frustrating," Sean agreed, "but there isn't much we can do about it, so we're all going to have to deal with it and wait for the plans to arrive."

Mark went to go sit on a chair in a corner of the room. "Shoot," he said.

–

Regina stood a few feet away from the green door of the Researchers' Room. ___Here I am,_ she thought. ___This is the only place I can turn to for help._

Regina could hear several voices inside. She couldn't help but overhear the conversation the men had.

___Hopefully, these people can help me. If they can't, I don't know who else can. Don't worry, Dylan. Don't worry, Paula. You both will soon be saved._

Regina took a deep breath, opened the door, and went inside.

The room was very high-tech and impressive. Computers and fancy desks lined the orange walls of the area. The floor was white and well polished. Many shiny buttons on the computers flashed different colors. There was a chrome door leading to a laboratory on the left wall.

Regina took a few seconds to admire what was around her. However, this moment was interrupted by five men in white coats looking at her in surprise.

Regina's cheeks turned bright red.

–

Everyone looked at the woman when she entered the room. She was beautiful, gorgeous, and sexy in her black uniform.

___Who is she?_ David wondered.

___She's beautiful,_ Sean thought.

Paul and John couldn't stop looking at her.

Mark was the only one who wasn't amazed or stunned by the woman's appearance. He stood up from his chair and broke the awkward silence in the room by asking her a question. "Who are you?"

The woman snapped out of her apparent embarrassment and turned to the right towards Mark. "My name is Regina. I'm a member of SORT."

"Ah, a government agent," Sean clarified.

"Why are you here?" Mark inquired.

"I have some urgent news," Regina answered.

"It can be any more urgent than what we have to deal with right now."

"Actually, I overheard your conversation, and I think I have a solution that may solve all of our problems."

This piqued Mark's interest. "Go on," he said.

Regina pulled up a chair, sat down in it, and asked the five men to gather around her. Mark chose to stay in the corner, sitting back down in his chair. She began to tell the story of her last mission, where she and her comrade Dylan had to go back in time to the Cretaceous Era to rescue many survivors. She told the men of the hardships they had to face and the dinosaurs they fought. Regina didn't leave any details out of the story; she told them _everything_.

After two hours of storytelling, Regina finally got to the ending of her tale, which was her current problem. When she finished the story, she told the researchers what her promise to Dylan was.

"So, that's what happens in the future?" John asked in amazement.

"I can't believe it," Paul uttered.

"What a story," David said.

"Indeed. Who ever knew that this would be our future?" Sean expressed.

"It truly is our future," Regina affirmed, getting up from her chair, "but it doesn't have to be this way. I need your help to fix everything before the government's plans screw things up."

Mark had his eyes closed the whole time with crossed arms, focusing deeply on Regina's story. He wore a displeased look on his face. Mark finally opened his eyes, stood up from his chair, and spoke. "Okay," Mark voiced. "You have told us of your past and your predicament."

"Yes," Regina confirmed.

"There's just one question I want to ask. Why should we help you?"

The question unintentionally came out cold to everyone else in the room. Mark didn't mean to make it sound that way, but ignored the possibility of doing so and outright asked the question, anyway. He had his own problems to deal with, and he didn't feel like doing charity right now.

"Mark!" David stated in surprise. "That was rude!"

"Yeah," Paul agreed. "Didn't you listen to the ending of Regina's story? Those people need our help!"

Mark shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sorry, but we have our own problems."

Regina was prepared for a cold response like this. "I know. That's why I want to help you, but you must help me in return."

"And, why would I want to do that?"

___Man, he's pretty blunt,_ Regina assumed.

"Because I have what you need," she replied. Regina reached into her pocket, took the 3rd Energy Data Disk out, and held it up to Mark's face.

Mark was surprised when he saw the disk. He couldn't believe that this woman already had one of the parts for the Timegate.

___There's the disk!_ Mark thought. ___I can't believe she has it!_ He then remembered that Regina mentioned collecting a blue disk in her story after encountering a giant dinosaur who beat up a T-Rex. This woman really did have what Mark needed. Mark really wanted to collect everything as quickly as he can, but he wondered whether he should rely on this woman for help. Regina did seem to be able to handle the job of collecting the rest of the items needed for building the Timegate. After all, most people wouldn't come back alive after an adventure like ___that__._

There was an awkward pause. Finally, Mark said, "All right, fine. We'll help you with your problem if you help us with ours." He held out his hand but wasn't smiling. "Deal?" he asked.

Regina looked at the hand, surprised that he accepted her offer. Her eagerness to save Dylan and Paula instantly made that feeling go away. She shook his hand. "Deal," Regina agreed.

David realized that going through this plan meant that they would be going directly against the government's orders. Even though he knew that the government could no longer be trusted with their plans, his cautious nature prevented him from immediately wanting to allow Regina to help them. "Wait," David said, "If we are going to do this, how are we going to deal with the government? Won't they find out what we're doing?"

"Leave that up to me," Sean declared. "I'll make sure that they aren't aware of what we're doing."

"How?" David questioned.

"Man, I'm a tech genius!" Sean assured him. "I can hack anything, remember?"

"Okay..." David was still rather unsure and cautious, but he eventually took Sean's word for it. "That leaves the task of getting everything we need for building the Timegate."

"We need the blueprints to the Timegate, a plutonium rod as a power source, and a certain software upgrade for our technology," John added, "We already have the 3rd Energy Data Disk collected."

"Where can we get these items?" David asked.

"I got it," Sean said, pulling himself away from the computer he was using during the conversation. "I researched the locations of the three remaining items."

"What did you find?" David inquired.

"The plans to the Timegate are kept in a place close to where Dr. Kirk was caught and imprisoned: South America," Sean answered.

"All the way over there?" Regina questioned.

"That won't be a problem, will it?" Mark asked Regina with a suspicious glance.

"No," Regina remarked, trying to avoid Mark's piercing stare. "I'm just surprised that the plans are far away in a location like South America."

"The government wanted him far away from the general public," Mark stated.

"I see. What about the other parts?"

"The plutonium rod is located in a secret facility in Russia," Sean said.

"How did you find that out?" Regina wondered. "It's a _secret_ facility."

"As I said before, I can hack ___anything_," Sean proudly declared. "I hacked the network to find any place that had plutonium rods, getting past any firewalls that prevented access to secret sites on the internet. It's the same way I found out where the Timegate blueprints are."

"I see," Regina said, ignoring his pride. "And, the last object?"

"The software upgrade is in Britain," Sean responded.

"Why Britain?"

"It has a lot of high-tech technology, better than ours. This upgrade will enhance the abilities of our software, even to the point of allowing our technology to handle using a Timegate."

"All right, then. So, I'm going to Russia, England, and South America. I'd better get ready to leave soon."

"Already? Didn't you just get back from the past?"

"Yes, I know. But, I can't rest now. Not when Dylan and Paula are in danger." Regina had a determined look on her face.

"Well...ok," Sean nervously said.

Regina handed Mark the 3rd Energy Data Disk. Mark held it up to his face and stared deeply into it. This was the key to a new breakthrough, and he had it in his hands. Mark took a few more moments to stare at the little disk in awe.

"Helloooooo?" Paul poked fun at Mark. "Mark? You still with us?"

Mark noted Paul's attempt at humor and pushed it aside.

"Yes, whatever," he replied and placed the blue disk in his pocket.

Regina and the researchers began to make travel arrangements for Regina to go England, Russia, and South America. After an hour of discussion and planning, the six people finalized the plan.

"So, it's agreed, then," Sean said. "Regina, your first destination is South America. You will sneak into the facility holding the plans to the Timegate, snatch them, and leave as quickly as you can."

"Right," Regina agreed.

"Your clothes for the trip will be ready soon," Paul stated.

"What, my regular clothes aren't fine?" Regina said, smiling.

"I don't want your black outfit to get dirty, dear," Paul joked, smirking.

Regina laughed. "Okay, thanks."

"You requested a leave of absence," Sean stated. "I got it for you by hacking into SORT's network and editing your employee profile."

Regina felt bad about breaking the laws just to save her friends, but she reminded herself that she was also helping the government by planning to rescue the additional 1000 survivors in the Cretaceous Era.

"That's good," she spoke up. "Thank you."

Sean nodded. "Your ride to South America leaves in 2 days."

"Okay. Thank you for your help, gentlemen. I'll be leaving now to get ready."

"Good," Mark said. "You do that. And, you're welcome. We'll see you later."

Regina nodded, turned towards the room exit, and started to leave. Before she reached the door, someone grabbed her right arm.

"Wait," John quickly said, still holding onto her arm. "Here. Take this." He dropped a little electronic device in Regina's palm.

Regina looked at the device with curiosity. "What is it?" she inquired.

"A tracking device," John said, letting go of Regina's arm. "It allows us to watch over you in case anything goes wrong."

Regina warmly smiled at John. "You're not worried about me, are you?"

John leaned back in surprise, his cheeks turning red. A while ago, while everyone was discussing the plan, John couldn't take his eyes or his mind off the redhead. She was beautiful, amazing, and highly intelligent. Her fair hair flowed in the cold air of the room, occasionally resting on her shoulders.

___Wow, what a woman!_ John declared in amazement as Regina spoke during the meeting. However, it wasn't just Regina's appearance or her intellect that made him really like her. The fact that she was willing to do anything—breaking laws, traveling the world, and going on a scavenger hunt—just to keep a promise she made to a friend several hours ago made him fall for her.

John didn't want to make it seem as if he liked Regina, so he spoke up. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"That's very sweet of you," Regina replied, "but I can take care of myself."

"I'm not saying you can't." John replied. "It's just that when plans are being carried out, mishaps can, might, and do happen to people."

"He has a point," David agreed. "Who knows what could happen to you?"

Regina stared at the two men and smiled. "Okay. I'll take the device." She put the little gadget in her pocket. "Good-bye, gentleman. Again, thank you for your help."

Mark got impatient again. "Yes, yes, yes, you're welcome," he hurriedly said, "Now please just get going."

___Jerk,_ John thought.

___Someone apparently lacks manners,_ David mused.

Regina nodded. She turned towards the door, opened it, and left, closing it behind her.

The men fell silent for a while. One of them finally spoke up.

"Why do you have to be a jerk to people?" John asked Mark.

"Calm down," Mark replied. "I only want us to be done with this already."

"That doesn't give you a license to be rude," David retorted.

"Oh, cry me a river," Mark coldly replied.

John had had it with Mark's unpleasant behavior. At this point, he nearly wanted to hit Mark. _Nearly._

"That's enough, Mark," Sean declared.

"Yeah, Mark," Paul said. "You can stop being a grumpy, old sourpuss now."

Mark noted Paul's insult. He let out a loud "hmmph!" and turned to go sit in the corner. He then pulled out the 3rd Energy Data Disk and examined it.

John smiled. ___For once, I like one of Paul's jokes,_ he happily thought to himself.


	4. Departure

Regina's apartment was very lovely. The walls were red—probably to match her hair—and the carpeting was nice. The rooms were decorated with splendid things, and the furniture was top-quality. Regina had a nice television and an excellent-looking DVD player in the living room. All of the windows in the apartment were polished and had curtains pleasing to the eye. Everything was tidy, and nothing was messy. One would certainly wonder how Regina was able to make a modest living in a tough time like this.

Regina was in her bedroom, putting anything she needed on her trip to South America in a black duffel bag. She was halfway done with packing when someone knocked on the door.

Regina went to the living room and opened the door. It was John.

Regina didn't expect company to show up at a time like this. "Hello, John," she greeted.

"Hello, Regina," John replied, waving awkwardly at Regina.

"Um, not to be rude, but what are you doing here? Is there something you want?"

"Uh...um..." John anxiously answered.

"Yes?" Regina asked once more.

"I-I-I-," John stammered, looking shyly at Regina. Standing in front of the beautiful woman he liked, alone in the hallway, made him very bashful.

_She's so pretty, _John thought._ Come on, man! Pull yourself together!_

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

John was speechless.

_Answer her, you fool! Quit making yourself look dumb!_

"Cat got your tongue?" Regina joked.

"Heh heh," John nervously laughed. "No. I wanted to give you this." He pulled out something from his back pocket. It was a green ID card.

Regina took the card from him. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a facility pass," John informed her. "Sean forgot to give it to you before you left. You now have access to our headquarters, so you can drop by any time."

"Cool," Regina answered, putting the card in her pocket. "Thanks. I need this."

"I know," John said. "You told us about the trouble you had with the security guard."

Regina nodded.

"Well, I have to get back to work," John stated. "B-b-bye, Regina."

_Darn it,_ he thought. _Again with the stammering._

"Ok," Regina said. "Bye, John."

Regina closed the door. John stood there for a while, not moving an inch.

_Frick. I made myself look stupid. Now she'll never like me._

John walked out of the apartment building in a downtrodden state. With his head drooping, he slowly walked all the way back to work.

Regina went back to her room and continued packing her stuff. She finished within an hour.

_Well, that's it,_ Regina thought. _Now, all I have to do is wash up and wait for tomorrow morning._

Regina stared at the front door of her apartment. _I wonder why John was so nervous,_ she wondered. _Well, he did say he was worried about me._

Regina shrugged and dismissed the thought. She then went to her balcony window.

_Hang tight, Dylan. Hang tight, Paula. I found some help. You'll soon be saved._

–

The air outside was moderately warm, and the sky was partially cloudy as Regina emerged from the building stairs and stepped onto the square roof of the research facility. A helicopter was waiting for her. Sean stood next to it, smiling.

Regina walked up to the helicopter, noticing Sean's smile. "Why are you smiling?" she asked.

"Princess, your carriage awaits," Sean joked.

Regina laughed. "Thanks, my good man." She got into the chopper. Sean handed something to her after she sat down in the back seat.

"A headset?" Regina inquired.

"Hey, we gotta keep in touch somehow," Sean answered.

"Right," Regina said, putting on the headset. "Well, I guess I'll be going now."

"All right. See ya later, Regina."

Regina waved good-bye. The helicopter's blades started whirring. Within a few seconds, the helicopter was off the ground, going higher and higher before flying forward, leaving the area. Sean watched as the helicopter left his sight, the wind flowing through his blond hair.

John watched all of this from the building stars from which Regina entered. He was a bit sad to see her leave but happy to see her keep her promise.

_I know you can do this, Regina,_ he thought. _Just please be careful._


	5. Infiltration - Part One

Regina couldn't help but think about the past while the chopper flew en route to South America. She thought about Dylan and their adventures together. She thought about the very mysterious—yet massively annoying—helmet people they encountered while trying to find survivors. She thought about the blond girl she handcuffed to a control shack a day ago. Regina couldn't get the disturbing picture of this girl having her legs crushed by a supercomputer out of her mind.

_Poor girl,_ Regina thought.

The chopper flew over Brazil and neared the Amazon Jungle. Regina couldn't help but mull over the fact that that girl was Dylan's daughter.

_How the frick did he find that out? And, why is the girl there to begin with?_

Regina was just about to think of the answers in her head when the pilot spoke.

"We're here!" the male pilot declared.

The chopper hovered over the jungle as the male pilot emerged from his chair, picked up a ladder, and threw it over the side of the vehicle.

"Thanks for your help," said Regina.

"You're welcome," responded the pilot. "I'll be waiting a few miles north of the northern end of the facility, in the jungle and out of sight. When you are done, just head in that direction." The man handed her a compass. "Here, in case you get lost."

"Thank you, but Sean already gave me one."

"Okay, then. Ready to leave?"

"Yes." Regina checked her equipment once more before going over to the ladder. She climbed over the edge and positioned herself on the ladder.

The pilot returned to his chair and lowered the helicopter slowly. Regina looked down as she neared the tops of trees. Soon, the helicopter got close enough to the ground. Regina dismounted the ladder onto the grass. The pilot pulled up the ladder and waved good-bye to Regina as the vehicle flew off into the distance.

Regina waved good-bye and turned her attention to the massive amounts of vegetation surrounding her. _Wait a minute,_ she thought. _Why am I not closer to the facility?_

A crackling, muffled noise came through her headset. "Regina, can you hear me?" a voice asked.

Regina adjusted her headset. "Sean, is that you?"

Sean answered, "Yes." He was back in the lab behind a computer screen, monitoring Regina and her location. He spoke into his mic. "You are in the jungle now, correct?"

"Yes," Regina confirmed. "I have a question, though."

"What is it?"

"Why am I not closer to the facility? It seems I'm much further away than I should be."

"Well, that depends. Do you want to be unseen or caught?"

"Huh?" Regina inquired.

"If we fly the helicopter any closer to the facility, we'll get spotted and heard," Sean elaborated. "It's better if you walk a few miles to your destination than dropping into the arms of security personnel."

"Good point," Regina agreed. "So, where do I go next?"

"Use your compass and head south."

"Gotcha. Thanks."

"Oh, and Regina?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to make too much noise as you move through the jungle. You aren't that far from the facility, so you _don't_ want to attract any unwelcome attention."

"I see. Got it. Thanks, Sean."

"You're welcome."

Regina traveled through the jungle in a southerly direction. She moved quickly but quietly, being careful not to make too much noise.

Eventually, she reached the end of the section of the jungle she was in. Regina hid behind some trees to avoid being seen, faced backward, and looked over her right shoulder. Through the last rows of trees, she could make out a tan-colored building with tall walls on all four of its sides. It was in the center of a green, circular field. Guards were on the circumference of this field, equidistant from each other. They faced the jungle with loaded guns in their arms. Regina was a few feet away from the edge of the circle, but luckily, she wasn't in their line of sight, and they couldn't see her from this distance, anyway.

"Great," Regina muttered under her breath. "How the heck am I supposed to get past these guys?"

Sean heard her words. "Don't worry; I'm prepared for this. Remember that black box I added to your equipment before you left? Get it out."

Regina did what he requested. "Okay," she said. "Now, what?"

"Head to the left a few feet. Then place the box on the ground. Make sure no trees are in front of it."

Regina did what he asked. "Done."

"Great. There should be a small red button on the side of the box. Press it, and _slowly_ walk back to your previous position."

Regina pressed the button. It made quiet beeping sounds.

_Oh, shoot! Is this a bomb?_

"No, the thing is not a bomb," Sean said, almost as if he read her thoughts.

_Thank god._ Regina let out a sigh of relief and walked back to the tree she was previously hiding behind.

"Now, we wait," Sean stated.

After thirty seconds, the box whirred softly and started opening itself up. More and more compartments revealed themselves as the box repeatedly unfolded itself.

"What's it doing?" Regina asked.

"You'll see," replied Sean.

The box stopped expanding its insides. Several square open spots were arranged in rows on top of the box. In them were orange objects.

Regina still didn't get what was going on, but Sean told her to wait a little while longer.

The objects shook and spontaneously shot up into the air and over the field. They exploded on the ground near the center of the field, making very loud noises.

"Wow," Regina said. "What are these, fireworks?"

"No, they're my special small flares," corrected Sean. "They fly a long distance, are capable of traveling in a curved path, and can even be remotely set off."

"Nifty," Regina added.

The guards heard the noise from the flares and turned their heads. Several small fires started in the center of the field.

"Oh, shoot!" a guard called out and went to go extinguish the flames. The rest of the guards followed suit.

Regina saw the bright flames from the jungle. "Um, Sean?" she asked. "Are you trying to burn the whole place down?"

"No," Sean replied. "Don't worry. They'll extinguish themselves in a few minutes."

"All right. Now what?" Regina asked.

"The guards are distracted now," Sean declared. "Go! Quickly!"

_Oh, shoot!_ Regina thought. She raced down the field towards the nearest wall, keeping an eye out for any guards. All of the guards were far away from her on her right, trying to put out the flames. She eventually reached the wall and hid behind a nearby crate. When Regina peered from the side of the crate, she saw that the coast was still clear. To the right of her on the wall was a numbered key lock adjacent to a brown metal door.

"Sean?" Regina asked. "How do I get past this lock? I need a code."

"Hold on," Sean replied. "Give me a few seconds."

Back in the lab, Sean quickly inputted several commands into a computer program designed for cracking numbered locks in any location. He pinpointed the location of the lock and entered several more commands. After a few more seconds, Sean got the code.

"I've got it!" Sean declared.

Regina saw that the flames started to wane. "What is it?" she quickly inquired.

"The code is '01379.'"

Regina quickly entered the code. There was a beep, and the door made an unlocking sound.

"Awesome!" Regina exclaimed. "It worked!"

"Of course it did," Sean boasted.

The flames diminished. The guards let out sighs of reliefs and turned to go back to their posts. However, Regina was already inside with the door closed by the time any of the guards entered her area.

"That was close," Regina said. She then addressed Sean. "Nice work, Sean. You're the best."

"Thanks, I know," Sean replied, blushing and smiling.

Regina checked her surroundings. She was in some dimly lit corridor. "Um, Sean?" she asked. "Where am I?"

"Hold on," Sean answered. "Let me check." Sean brought up a map of the facility on the computer screen. He pinpointed Regina's location with a few key strokes. "You're in an L-shaped hallway. On the other end is a door leading to the entrance area of the facility."

"Good," Regina said, about to activate her light source. "Now to light up this place."

"Wait," Sean interjected. "Let me scan the area. Don't move an inch."

Regina waited for twenty seconds while Sean did an area scan on his computer. Finally, Sean spoke up.

"Okay, no one else is here for the moment," he stated. "Proceed with caution."

Regina nodded. She turned her light source on and the hallway became brighter and easier to see. Regina walked down the first part of the corridor and turned left. Straight ahead at the end of the second section of the hallway was the exit. Regina walked up to the door and looked out of its little window. The next area was square-shaped and had no roof. It had gray walls on all sides. There was a square, gray, box-shaped structure in the center. It seemed to be the entrance to the underground facility containing the blueprints to the Timegate. The entrance was guarded by two sentries.

"Sean," Regina said. "I've got two guards here. What now?"

"Already on it, Regina," Sean answered. He booted up a different program on his screen and clicked 'Settings.' He adjusted the parameters and applied the changes. A notification window popped up, asking for a specific location. Sean typed in the coordinates and pressed "OK." A telephone logo appeared on the screen, showing a cell phone number. Sean picked up the telephone and dialed the same number. He waited for someone to pick up.

One of the sentries by the entrance heard his cell phone ring. He took out his cell phone and pressed a button. "Hello?" the sentry asked.

Sean turned to Paul, who was sitting next to him. "Okay, Paul," Sean whispered. "It's your turn."

"No prob, buddy," Paul replied, and took the phone from Sean. "Hello?" he asked, speaking into the phone.

"Who is this?" the sentry inquired.

"I'm from a big record producing company, sir," Paul said, imitating someone who ran a contest.

"Yeah...and?" the guard asked.

"I would like to inform you that you and your friend have won a chance to meet Lady Gaga in person!" Paul said, almost snickering.

The guard squealed in excitement. "Really!?" he excitedly asked.

"Yes, yes, yes! All you just have to do is travel to Madrid, Spain. Someone will meet you there to take you to the hotel the famous singer is staying in."

"Oh, my god! I can't believe this!"

"Well, you'd better believe it 'cause it's true!" Paul declared, hooking his right arm and swinging it sideways in an arc twice, much like a cowboy.

"Yes! Thank you so much!" the guard shouted.

"No problem!" Paul replied. "Have fun!"

"I will!" The guard hung up. During the conversation, the other sentry looked at his comrade with confusion and surprise. His comrade told him the news. Both of them screamed in delight and instantaneously ran for the door at the back of the area, locking it behind them.

After Sean hung up the phone, Paul burst in laughter, almost falling over in his chair. Regina saw the sentries' behaviors during the phone call, her eyes fully open in shock._ The frick was that all about?_ she asked herself. She heard Paul's laughter through the headset.

"What's so funny?" Regina asked.

Paul couldn't stop laughing. "Oh, my god! That was hilarious! Those morons! Ha ha ha!"

Regina addressed Sean. "Care to tell me what just happened?"

"Paul told them that they've won a chance to see Lady Gaga, a famous musician," Sean answered, snickering.

"Morons," Regina said, referring to the sentries. "How could they fall for a thing like that?"

"People are dumb," Sean stated.

"How did you get their numbers?"

"Technology is always on my side, Regina."

"Sometimes I wonder if _half_ the things you do are even _legal_, Sean," Regina commented. She checked to see if the coast was clear and opened the door. She walked to the entrance of the underground facility. The door had an electronic lock next to it. Sean examined the lock.

"It seems you can short it with an electric object," he stated.

"No problem," Regina replied, pulling out her trusty stun gun from her pocket. This weapon had been with her since her last adventure. She remembered shocking dinosaurs and opening electronically locked doors with it. It was basically her iconic weapon.

_Dang, this thing is awesome,_ Regina thought to herself as she activated the stun gun. Unfortunately, the thing wouldn't work. _Now, what's wrong?_ It didn't take long for her to figure out the problem.

"Frick!" Regina swore.

"What?" Sean asked her.

"I forgot to charge my stun gun!"

"Not to worry, Regina. I always come prepared for times like this. Check your inventory and find a black, rectangular object."

Regina scanned her equipment and found the requested object. It was a polished, slightly thin, sleek, moderately long, dark, rectangular object. It felt cool to the touch as Regina wrapped her fingers around it. It surprisingly had a comfortable grip. She inspected the mysterious object and found that it had a button on one of its sides. Regina pressed the button an a pulse of electric energy came out of the black object, forming a long, red rectangle.

"Hey, cool!" Regina said in excitement. "A new stun gun!"

"It's not _just_ a new stun gun," Sean clarified. "This stun gun delivers twice as much damage as your old stun gun, has twice as much range, and even has the ability to shoot out electrical waves of energy. It can also short electronic locks twice as fast and has a permanent effect on them. In other words, it's twice as better as your old one."

"Nice!" Regina said, swinging the stun gun back and forth.

"There should be another button on the device," Sean added. "Press it."

Regina found the second button and pressed it. A wave of electric energy shot out of her electric weapon and flew forward fifty feet before completely disappearing. "Cool!" she exclaimed.

"Your new stun gun has a below-average firing rate, but the fairly long range of the projectile attack makes up for it, so there should be little to no problem using this thing as an offensive weapon," Sean continued. "However, the battery will take a little beating if you zap too much."

"Got it," Regina said. "Thanks! You really are a technical genius!"

"Oh, stop," Sean replied, blushing again. "Let's get back to the mission."

Regina went up to the electronic lock and shorted it with her new toy. The color of the lock instantly changed from red to green. Regina opened the door and went inside. There was an opening in the floor ahead. Regina looked down into the opening and saw a ladder against the wall below her, leading to another corridor. Regina walked up to the edge of the opening and positioned herself on the ladder. She climbed down into the next area.


	6. Infiltration - Part Two

The corridor led to another door just ahead. Regina moved quietly in order to minimize noise. Through the window of this door, she could see another corridor just ahead. In front of the same door was another hallway perpendicular to the one she was facing. A guard walked back and forth on this path.

"Sean," Regina quietly said, "how do I get past this guy?"

"Timing," Sean replied. "Just-"

"I know that," Regina interrupted. "It's just that if I open this door, I might make noise and easily get noticed. Plus, I might even take longer getting past the guard if I open it."

"Good point," Sean stated. "Look around you. Do you see an air vent somewhere?"

Regina looked around the hallway. She found one behind her a few feet away on the ceiling. "Yeah, I found it."

"Good," Sean said. "Stand under it, and bring out your retractable pole."

Regina stood under the vent, got out a small rectangular object, and pointed it upwards. The object started extending itself. When it reached the vent, it pushed the grille up and out of the way. The grille made a slightly loud noise when it hit the floor of the air duct, but luckily, no one heard the sound.

"Darn it," Regina said. "That could have startled anyone."

"Thank god it didn't," Sean replied. "I'm surprised the thing wasn't screwed in."

"The security sucks," Regina commented. "Apparently, so does the ventilation system."

Sean nodded in agreement. "Okay, you know what to do."

Regina nodded. She took out her grappling gun and pointed it upwards. The hook quickly moved upwards and latched itself onto the opening, leaving a long cord behind. Regina pressed a button on the gun, and the cord started retracting, lifting her off the ground and into the vent. Regina climbed into the air duct and put the grille back over the opening. "All right, Sean, I'm in," she said to the headset.

"Good. I brought up a map of the ventilation system. Head to the right, and keep going until you reach another vent opening."

Regina followed his instructions, stopping just in front of another grille. "Okay," she said. "Next?"

"_Slowly_ open up the grille, and _quietly_ move it to the side," instructed Sean.

Regina used a silent screwdriver Sean gave her to unscrew the screws anchoring the grille to the opening. After she took care of all the screws, she lifted the grille and gently put it to the side.

"Done," Regina stated. "Next?"

"There is a hallway ahead perpendicular to the one parallel to you from below. Behind and below you is the perpendicular hallway you circumvented earlier, which is also perpendicular to the one below you. Think of this area as an I-shape, with you above the long shaft."

"Right," Regina replied.

"Two guards are patrolling the length of both perpendicular hallways back and forth, one guard for each hallway. I am watching their movements. When I say 'go,' you will drop down from the opening onto the floor. Turn to the left and you should see an alcove you can get into. Roll to the side as soon as you land from the vent onto the ground in order to enter the alcove. If we do this quickly with little noise, the guards won't see us. They walk pretty quickly, so we have to act fast."

"Okay," Regina replied. "Just give me the signal."

Sean waited for the guards to pass. "Ready..., set..., GO!"

Regina moved quickly. She dropped from the opening onto the ground, making almost no noise. She saw the alcove on her left. Regina quickly rolled to the side and entered the alcove, seconds before the guards came back.

"All right, I'm in," Regina voiced, turning to face the corridor.

"Nice moves," complimented Sean. "Now, look outside to your left, and you'll find another alcove ahead along this hallway. When I give the signal, run to the next alcove."

"Got it."

"Ready, GO!"

Regina quickly ran to the other alcove, being careful not to trip or make too much noise. She safely entered the next alcove. "I did it," Regina said. "Now, how do I get past this second guard?"

"You won't have to," Sean replied. "There should be a vent behind you. Unscrew the grille, enter, and close the vent before you continue ahead."

Regina followed instructions. When she was safely in the vent, she talked into the headset. "Okay, I got in. I'm moving forward."

Sean spoke into his mic. "Good. The vent's height widens ahead of you. After a while, you will reach a dead end. If you look up, you'll see that the vent turns vertical. Somewhere up there, the vent will go back to being horizontal. Latch onto the edge of this opening above with your grappling gun."

Regina crawled forward in the narrow vent. When its height was large enough, she stood up and walked the rest of the way. Once Regina reached the dead end, she turned around and glanced upwards. The opening to the next section of the passageway was high up. She took out her grappling gun and fired it at the edge of the opening. With a successful latch of the hook, Regina ascended into the opening.

"This certainly is a lot of work," Regina commented.

"Hey, no one said it was gonna be easy," Sean replied.

"I know. So, where do I go next?"

"Actually, it's pretty straightforward from here. Just follow this L-shaped passage until you reach a dead end. Watch out when you get there because there's a drop at that point."

Regina followed the passage until she reached the drop. "I'm here, Sean," Regina said.

"Good," Sean replied. "Turn around until your back is facing the drop. Move back slowly until you are able to grab the edge. Drop down. Once you hit the ground, roll to avoid taking damage."

Regina didn't seem too sure of this plan. "Are you sure, Sean? I won't get hurt? I'm not raiding a tomb, you know."

"No, not at all. It's not that steep a drop, but you'll want to do what I say here if you don't want any injuries. Trust me."

Regina did trust Sean, so she did what he told her to do. When she rolled forward, she entered another section of the passageway that was low in height. Regina refrained from standing up to avoid bumping her head against the metal wall above her. This path led to a dead end. "I did what you said, Sean. I can't go any further now. What next?"

"Keep your voice down," Sean warned her. "Turn around. There should be a grille in front of you."

Regina slowly turned around and saw the grille in the wall. "Yay, another vent opening," she unenthusiastically commented. "Do I have to get past more guards?"

"Actually, you're already at your destination," Sean clarified. "Past the grille is the room with the plans inside."

"Really?" Regina asked. "Nice! We're so close to being done!"

"Hey!" Sean replied. "As I said before, keep your voice down. There's someone in there."

Regina lowered her volume. "Sorry," she said. She walked up to the vent opening and looked through the grille into the room. Regina saw that the area was square and tiny, with light-brown walls, a tan ceiling, and a white-tiled floor. To the left wall was a gray door. To the right was a dark brown desk with a man sitting behind it, doing some paperwork. In the wall facing Regina on the other side of the room, there was a black safe.

"That safe must contain the blueprints!" Regina whispered. "Now to figure out how to get to them..."

"Peashooter," Sean said. "Use your peashooter on the guard. Might I suggest the tranquilizer?"

"Excellent choice," Regina joked, taking out a peashooter and loading it with a small tranquilizer dart. She put the peashooter in her mouth, moved the end of it through the grille, aimed it at the man's neck, and blew into the tube. The dart flew towards the target instantly.

The man slapped his neck when the dart connected with it. "Ow!" he exclaimed. "Darn mosquitoes!" He examined the affected area of his neck and found a small object. He pulled it out and looked closely at it. "Hey, wait a minute...," the guard said. "This isn't a mosquito. It's... Oh, no..."

The man immediately knew what the object was. However, the chemicals from the dart have already entered his body. It didn't take long for the man to feel the effects of the tranquilizer. "Darn it...," he swore, as he started to fall into a deep sleep, falling off his chair onto the floor. He was knocked out cold.

"He's down," Regina stated.

"Excellent," Sean said. "Now, all you have to do is get out of the vent, go up to the safe, and open it."

Regina moved the grille out of the way, got out of the vent, and put the grille back in. She then checked her surroundings again just to be safe. The safe was a few feet away. She walked up to it. "Um, Sean, how do I open this?"

"Pull out your eye scope, and put it on," Sean replied. "I'm going to run a scan on the lock."

Regina took out a small, cylindrical object and put it over her ear. Sean used this eye scope to scan and examine the lock in order to find a successful combination. It took only a few seconds for him to find the correct one, which flashed on his screen.

"I got it!" Sean declared. "The combination is '24-16-30.'"

"Got it," Regina replied, twisting the lock to match the combination. After a few seconds, the safe unlocked, and Regina opened the door. The blueprints to the Timegate were sitting inside.

"I've found them!" Regina exclaimed, grabbing the blueprints, checking them, and safely putting them away. "The first item is ours!"

"Great job, Regina!" Sean replied. "Now, all we have to do is-"

Before Sean could finish his sentence, several alarms suddenly started to go off. None of them were in the room with the safe, but plenty of them scattered around the facility resonated loudly through the building.

Regina was startled by the instant loud noises. "What the heck!?" she exclaimed. "What's going on? Sean, I thought you shut off all of the alarms!"

"Correction: I only shut off the _electronic_ alarms," Sean replied.

"What!?"

"I only turned off the electric ones," Sean clarified. "However, that didn't include _all_ alarms. The guards probably set off other types of alarms."

"Well, how did they know something was wrong in the building?"

"I'm guessing the two absent sentries at the entrance of the main part of the facility was a giveaway to them."

"Ah, man! How could we forget to deal with that?"

"Even if we found some way to mask the absence of the guards—for example, holograms—I doubt the trick would last very long. I don't have any ideas or the technology to perform a feat like that, so we're going to have to be more clever and more careful in the future. I just wish I had though of this ahead of time-"

"That's very nice to hear, but we don't have time for retrospection right now!" Regina interrupted him.

"Right," Sean responded, clearing his throat. "There are three guards closing in on your location. I estimate that it will take about 45 seconds before they come into the room."

"Darn it!" Regina swore.

"Don't worry, Regina. As always, I have a plan. Look to your bottom left. On the wall and next to the corner, there should be a vent. Quickly enter it, and close the opening."

Regina rushed over to the vent and unscrewed the grille from the opening. She quickly entered the vent and closed the opening behind her, screwing in the grille. The guards came in approximately 10 seconds later, but Regina was safe and out of sight.

"Whew, I made it," Regina remarked, moving forward in the vent. "Quickly, find me a way out of here!"

"Keep your voice down, Regina," Sean instructed. "The men might hear you. Anyway, I found an exit route through the air ducts. Follow my directions, and you should be out in ten minutes max."

Regina nodded. She took the route Sean gave her, following his directions every step of the way. After ten minutes, Regina came to a vent opening leading outside of the facility, facing the circular field.

"Okay, Sean," Regina said. "I'm here. Is it safe for me to leave?"

Sean scanned the area. "Yes, I would say so," he replied. "Just watch for anyone that comes out."

Regina exited the vent and looked both ways before crossing the circular field. In a burst of speed, she ran across the field towards the jungle. Unfortunately, Regina tripped on a rock halfway to her destination, hurting her ankle in the process.

"OWWWWW!" she shouted in pain, grabbing her ankle. "SHOOT! FREAKING SHOOT!"

Sean spoke up. "Regina! Oh, no! Can you still move forward?"

"Yeah, I think so." Regina slowly got up and quickly—but sloppily—hopped to the jungle. She managed to enter the area just before the guards came out of the facility onto the field.

"I—ow—I'm i-in the jungle, Sean," Regina said.

"Good. I'm glad to see and hear that you are all right," Sean replied. "Now, you just have to head north."

Regina reached for her compass and used it to crawl to her destination. She stayed low and avoided making noise. It took a fairly long time, but Regina finally reached the helicopter, which sat in a small, treeless area.

The male pilot saw her crawling on the ground, clearly in pain. "Regina!" he exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Regina painfully replied. "I'm—ow—okay."

The pilot helped Regina into the helicopter and strapped her in. He then returned to his seat, started the vehicle, and grabbed the wheel. The chopper rose into the air, turned in the opposite direction, and flew away from the facility and the jungle, heading for North America.

Regina looked at her injured ankle. _Darn, this hurts,_ she thought. She then took out the blueprints to the Timegate and examined them. _Huh. This looks quite sophisticated._

Regina put away the blueprints and looked towards the afternoon sun. _One down, two to go,_ she thought._ I'm making progress, Dylan and Paula. I'm making progress._ She took a well-deserved nap as the chopper flew over Brazil.


	7. Debriefing

The helicopter slowly descended onto the helipad on the rooftop of the research facility. When the rotors stopped moving, Regina removed her seat belt, and the pilot came to her side and helped her get out of the vehicle. Paul was standing next to the helicopter, waiting for their return.

"Hey, princess!" he joked with outstretched arms. "You're back!" He then noticed Regina's injury. "Oh, no, Regina! What happened to your ankle?"

"I tripped over a rock and twisted it," Regina answered..

"Are you all right?' Paul asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Regina replied.

"Good."

"However, I don't think I can continue the plan-"

Mark suddenly walked up to them almost as if from nowhere. He turned to Regina and made a comment. "You're late."

"Nice to see you, too," Regina unenthusiastically commented, noting Mark's indifference towards her return.

"The blueprints?" Mark requested.

Regina handed him the blueprints. Mark unrolled the blueprints and glanced over them. "Finally," he said. "Now, we can start working on the Timegate."

"Indeed," Regina agreed.

"Yes, you have done well. Thank you."

Regina was surprised to hear his gratitude towards her retrieval of the Timegate blueprints. It seemed uncharacteristic of him to do that. "Um, you're welcome," she replied.

Mark put away the blueprints and saw Regina's injury. "What happened to your ankle?" he asked.

"I tripped over a rock."

"That's it? That's _how_ you twisted your ankle?" Mark couldn't believe it. "Just over a little rock? I thought it would be a little more urgent."

"It wasn't a little rock," Regina protested. "Anyway, what the frick do you expect when you're in a hurry trying to evade armed patrols?"

"I see. My apologies." He looked at the bruised ankle. "I think we have something that can help."

"That's good," Regina commented. "However, it might take too long for me to heal before we complete the next phase of the mission."

"Don't worry," Mark said. "Our remedy heals injuries like yours in just a day."

"Really? Wow. How did you guys make that?"

"Technology is advancing, Regina."

"The remedy's an invention?"

"Yes. We have it in our laboratory."

"Cool." Regina looked around. "Where are the others?"

"John is out doing errands, David is inspecting the facility, and Sean is updating some software," Mark replied.

"I see. Okay, let's go inside."

Paul and Mark got on both sides of Regina and put her arms over their shoulders. They helped Regina walk as they all returned to the researchers' room. When they were finally in the room, Paul and Mark helped Regina into a chair. Paul left the room, stating he was going to the restroom. Mark put the blueprints on the table and opened them up. A surprised Regina looked at Mark, noting his helpfulness. He was the last person in this room to have any manners.

_Could he have changed while I was gone?_ Regina asked herself.

Sean turned away from his computer towards his comrades and started a conversation. "I see you're back, Regina," he stated. "Is your ankle feeling any better?"

"A little," Regina replied, turning to Sean.

"We have something to treat her injury, correct?" Mark asked, adding, "Where did you put it?"

"Don't worry," Sean said. "I'll get it." He got up and went over to some cupboards on the wall to his left. He grabbed a chair, stood on the seat, and reached for the top shelf. Sean grabbed a small blue cylindrical object, dismounted the chair, and put the chair away. He went over to Regina and showed her what he grabbed. "Here you go."

Regina took the object and examined it. "What is it?" she inquired.

"Something to help your injury," Sean answered. "I call it, 'The Cylinder of Life.'"

"Weird name," Regina commented. "Anyway, how does it work?"

"Open the lid on the end."

Regina opened the lid on one end of the object. She found a gel-filled pad on this end. "Okay, now what?"

"Apply the pad directly on your ankle," Sean instructed.

Regina placed the padded end of the blue object on her ankle. The pad turned red and pulsated. Immediately, as if by magic, Regina's external injury and pain started to subside rapidly. Within a minute, there was no pain, and the bruise on Regina's ankle was gone. "That's amazing!" she commented.

"I know," Sean said, smiling. "We finished inventing this device a few days ago. It instantaneously heals any external and internal injuries. It was supposed to be for soldiers and agents."

"Nice," Regina commented. "How does it heal so quickly?"

"The gel inside. It's composed of a chemical called Calanium, which has incredibly strong healing properties. It took us almost forever to develop this for the government."

"Sean, you and everyone else never fail to amaze me with your technology."

Sean beamed. "Well, you know," he shrugged, continuing, "hard work can be your friend."

Mark got impatient again and interrupted the conversation between Sean and Regina. "When you two are done with your little chat, can we please move on with this little project of ours?"

_And, he's back,_ Regina thought, noting the return of Mark's usual temperament.

"We were just talking, Mark," Sean said. "There's no need to be rude."

"Whatever," Mark replied. "Can we please get on with this?"

"Yeah, yeah. As soon as the others get back."

"Well, where are they?" Mark asked, very impatient.

"Calm down," Sean replied. "They'll soon be here."

"They'd better hurry. I don't have time for this."

"Do you _ever_ have time for anything, Mark?"

"No. I'm a very busy man who doesn't like being held up."

"Would it kill you to wait?"

"It would annoy me."

"Too bad," Sean indifferently replied. "We all have to wait for things at some points in our lives. You're just going to have to get used to it."

"Hmmph," Mark replied. He went to a corner of a room and sat down in a chair, folding his arms and closing his eyes.

Regina turned to Sean. She gave him a look that said, "Is this guy _ever_ in a good mood?"

Sean leaned back against a wall, folded his arms, sighed, rolled his eyes, and returned a look that said, "No. I think he was _born_ that way."

Regina silently nodded in agreement. Sean chuckled.

David entered the room. "Sorry about the wait. Inspection has to be thorough, you know-"

Mark spoke up. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Where's John?"

John suddenly burst into the room, nearly bumping into David. He was carrying a bag full of items. "Sorry about that," John said, out of breath from running all the way back to this room. "The line at the store was _long_. Here are the parts you wanted for one of your inventions." He handed the bag to Sean.

"Thanks," Sean replied. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that trouble."

"Oh, don't worry about it. It wasn't too bad-"

"Can we continue our plan already?" Mark interrupted. "Where's Paul?"

Paul arrived from the restroom. "I'm here. Let's get on with business."

"Finally!" Mark said out loud. "Let's move on!"

"Mark, your rudeness and impatience are getting on my nerves," David said.

"Agreed," Paul said.

"Would it kill you to be nice and wait for _once_ in your life?" John asked Mark.

"You all can reproach me later," Mark replied. "We have the blueprints. Now, we just have to get the other two items." Mark turned to Sean. "Sean, if you please."

"Certainly," Sean said. He walked up to the large table at the center of the room and cleared his throat. "Everyone, come gather 'round."

Everyone else in the room did what he said. Sean continued. "So far, we have the blueprints to the Timegate. Regina has completed her mission quite well."

Regina beamed. "Thank you, Sean," she said.

Sean nodded at Regina and continued his monologue. "Now, we need to collect two remaining items: the software upgrade disc and the plutonium rod. We will collect the plutonium rod last. As of now, we will focus on getting the software upgrade disc. The disc is located in a high-tech building in London, England. This disc contains all the software needed to upgrade our slightly outdated technology in order to run the Timegate.

"Regina will take a helicopter to England. She'll sneak into the facility, get past the guards and traps, reach the vault, and open it to obtain the upgrade disc. She'll then get out of the area unseen and a helicopter will take her away from the country to here. Simple. Any questions?"

Regina felt a bit guilty for all she was doing just to save her friend Dylan. "It doesn't really seem simple. We are breaking a few laws just to get what we want, Sean," she notified him. "Are you sure that we should do this?"

Sean noticed her uneasiness. "Don't worry, Regina," he answered. "I have a plan for everything. We'll take more precautionary measures this time, so you won't have to worry about getting caught. Besides, we need this disc more than they do."

Regina fell silent.

"We'll give the disc back to them some way," Sean assured her.

Regina still felt a bit uneasy. "Well, let's just get this over with. I don't like the feeling of all of this."

"Okay, then. When do you want to leave for England?"

"Tomorrow at noon," Regina stated. "Get the helicopter ready as before. Also, please prepare more suitable equipment. I want to be very careful this time."

Sean nodded. "See you later, Regina," he said, waving at her as she left the room waving as well.

John looked at Regina as she left the room. _What a woman,_ he thought to himself. _What a woman._


	8. The Great Heist - Part One

Regina arrived in the research facility the next day. She immediately went to the researchers' room. When she opened the door, John was standing in the room, waiting for her.

"It's nice to see you again, Regina," he commented.

"John, I was only gone for 19 hours," Regina jokingly stated.

"I know," John replied. "It's just that it's always so nice to have you here."

"Why, thank you, John."

"You're welcome." John pointed to the entrance to the stairs at the back of the room. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes," Regina replied.

John opened the door to the back stairs and let Regina enter first before following her up the stairs all the way to the top of the building. A helicopter was waiting on the roof. Sean stood next to it, holding a suitcase.

John said good-bye to Regina and stood at the stairs entrance. Regina walked up to Sean. He opened the suitcase and showed her the new equipment. After several tutorials on all gadgets, Regina equipped all the new items. She got into the helicopter, sat down, and buckled herself in.

Sean went up to the side of the vehicle. "Are you ready for this, Regina?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm all set," Regina answered.

"Okay. The others and I will work on getting the parts of the Timegate by using the blueprints as a guide." Sean pointed to his mic on his lab suit. "I'll keep in touch," he stated.

Regina pointed to her headset. "Me, too," she said.

"See you later." Sean backed up a few feet from the helicopter. The vehicle started to ascend. John and Sean watched it head up into the sky and waved at Regina. After a minute, the vehicle was out of sight, en route to England.

–

The chopper flew eastward towards Great Britain. The journey to this country was five hours long. During the trip, Regina thought about Dylan and Paula. She was 33% done with her task. In a few days, Regina would be able to go back in time to save all of the survivors, including Paula. She would be able to save Dylan. She would be able to fix everything so that none of this would ever happen again.

The helicopter passed the coast of England and headed towards the high-tech building in London containing the software upgrade. In fifteen minutes, the helicopter neared the fenced perimeter of the building. The sight was impressive. The building was enormous and tall, and it had silver windows almost everywhere. A sign was on the front wall of the building halfway up to the top. It read "London Tech Industries" in big, red, neon letters.

The ground between the building and the fencing was not so marvelous. Barbed wire lined the tops of the fences, and there were searchlights all over the rough, dusty ground. However, they weren't turned on. Guards stood on all four corners of the area, armed with large weapons. Dogs stood by their sides.

_Dang, they really went all out with security,_ Regina thought, looking at the area surrounding the bottom of the building. _Fortunately, I won't be entering the building from the ground floor._

Sean was giving instructions to the pilot. "Now, don't get too close to the building, or they'll detect you before you can exit the area. Park on top of the building across the street, and let Regina get out."

"Got it," the pilot stated, doing what he was told. The helicopter landed quietly onto the roof of the building opposite the high-tech building. Regina was wearing an appealing, black, one-piece suit. She exited the helicopter and took out a hang glider from the vehicle.

"Do you need any help with that?" the pilot asked, facing Regina.

"Um, no, I think I'm good," Regina lied.

"Okay, see you later." The pilot grabbed the steering wheel, and the helicopter ascended up into the sky, leaving the area almost soundlessly.

"Um, Sean?" Regina spoke into her headset. "How do I work this thing?"

Sean was surprised. "You don't know how to use it?" he asked.

"Well...," Regina said, embarrassed. "I thought I knew how. I guess I didn't."

"All right, then. Grab onto the bar. Make sure the wing is behind you and tilted slightly upwards."

Regina followed instructions. "Okay, now what?"

"Walk to the edge of the roof."

Regina went up to the edge of the roof. "Done. Next?"

Sean told her the last steps of the hand-gliding process. Regina was shocked to hear them.

"I'm going to do _what_!?" she asked in shock.

"It's not that hard, Regina," Sean assured her. "Just do what I tell you, and you'll be fine."

Regina looked over the edge of the building and saw the ground. The front of the high-tech building was directly in front of her. However, the street in front of it was far below her. It was a _very_ long way down. She became very nervous.

"Oh, man," Regina nervously said. "Sean, I-I don't know about this..."

"What, you're not afraid of heights, are you?" Sean joked.

"This isn't funny, Sean. I'm _not_ joking."

"You worry too much. Just don't look down, and you'll be fine."

Regina nodded and repeatedly told herself these words. _Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down._ She stepped off the roof and fell. The hang glider fell sharply for several feet before becoming level. Regina was gliding safely to the roof of the high-tech building. "I'm doing it, Sean!" she exclaimed. "I'm doing it!"

"I can see that," Sean agreed. "Good job, Regina."

"Whee! This is so cool!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying the ride. Now, all you need to do is land on the high-tech building."

Regina's face turned white. "Shoot!" she exclaimed. "How do I land this thing?"

Sean turned pale. He forgot to tell Regina how to land the hang glider. "Don't worry! Just keep the thing level as you come in for a landing."

"Okay..." Regina anxiously attempted to level out the hang glider. However, her efforts were in vain, as the thing quickly flew close to the rooftop. "Darn it!" Regina exclaimed. The aircraft was coming in too fast. "SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!"

Within seconds, the hang glider flew over the rooftop. Regina tried to stop it and attempted to land, but it was no good. She tripped and fell face down onto the ground. "FRICK!" she shouted. The hang glider became free from Regina's control and flew away. It went over the edge of the top of the building and crashed into a nearby billboard, plummeting to the ground immediately afterwards.

The impact of Regina's fall rattled her headset, sending loud screeching sounds to Sean's speakers. Sean covered his ears with his hands, closed his eyes, and grimaced. "OW!" he shouted. "Darn it!"

Regina got up slowly, wincing in pain. "Darn it...," she said. She examined her left knee. It was badly bruised and bleeding, making it hard for her to stand. She immediately sat back down. "Ow..."

The screeching sounds stopped, and Sean could finally hear again. He quickly adjusted his mic. "Regina!" he said. "Are you all right?"

"Ow," Regina responded. "I think so."

"Dang, those screeching sounds were loud. What the heck was _that?_"

"That was _you_ not giving proper instructions on how to land the darn thing." She scooted up to the edge and looked over it to get a glimpse of the ground below. The hang glider hit an awning of the building opposite the one Regina was on. Several people were looking at it, wondering where it came from.

Sean felt a pang of guilt. "Sorry about that, Regina."

"Forget it," Regina replied. "I just hope no one saw that little incident. However, people seem to notice the hang glider that crashed and landed onto an awning below. I'd best leave the scene." She moved to her previous spot and looked at her knee again. "Ow. My knee."

"Not to worry, Regina!" Sean happily exclaimed. "Use the 'Cylinder of Life' I gave you."

Regina remembered the object. She quickly took it out and used it on her knee. After a minute, the pain and trauma were gone. "That's better," Regina commented.

"Good to know," Sean replied, smiling. "Ready for the next step?"

Regina confirmed it. She stood up, turned around, and went up to the front edge of the rooftop. She took out a grappling gun and shot the hook onto the edge, securing it. She checked the hook's grip, firmly grasped her gun, which was still attached to the hook with a rope, turned around, and stepped backwards off the building, landing on the wall. She walked backwards down the wall as the rope extended itself. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Regina said to herself, not looking below her. As she walked down the building, she looked for an opening into the building. After five minutes, she found a circular vent. "Finally."

"All right," Sean spoke up. "Now, you have to force the thing open."

"Don't worry; I got this." Regina pulled out a black gun and aimed it at the grille of the vent. She pulled the trigger, and a red beam came out, directly hitting the grille. Regina moved the beam around the edge of the grille, burning metal off in the process. 10 seconds later, the grille was separated from the vent opening and fell inside. "This thing is so cool," Regina commented.

"I'm glad you like it," Sean replied. "In you go."

Regina put away the laser gun and used her legs to push off the wall. She tucked her legs in as she swung towards the vent opening. She safely entered the vent, letting go of the grappling gun. The vent became a slide as she crawled forward. Regina slid on her stomach all the way down into the next area.


	9. The Great Heist - Part Two

Regina arrived in another vent perpendicular to the slide, tall enough for her to stand up in. The path forked here. Regina looked to her left and right. She had two choices to make: she could take the left path or the right path. Regina talked into her headset. "Sean," she addressed him, "which way do I go next?"

Sean looked at his computer screen. It showed a map of a section of the ventilation system in which Regina was located. "Hold on," he replied. "Let me look for a second." Sean examined the ventilation system carefully. He finally came to a conclusion moments later. "Okay, I've got it."

"What?" Regina inquired.

"You can go either way," Sean answered.

"Really? Okay, which way do I go?"

"Well, that depends. Do you want to take the harder but shorter way on the left or the easier but longer way on the right?"

"Um, I don't know. Can you give a brief description of each?"

"The left path is rather short, but the vents are more dangerous to traverse, and there are guards standing outside of and next to the vent in some parts along the way. If you make too much noise, they will detect you. They are armed with surprisingly powerful sub-machine guns.

"On the other hand, the right path has no hazards or guards to deal with, but there are many twists and turns you have to navigate, and the process can be excessively repetitive."

Regina thought for a moment. "Okay, I'll take the right," she declared.

"All right," Sean responded. "The path should be straightforward from here, then."

"Good. I'm gone." Regina took the right path, navigating all of the straight, curved, and right-angled portions of the vent. She finally came to the end of the path, marked by a square grille on the vent floor in front of her. "Sean, I'm in front of a grille," she stated.

"Try to open it and enter the room below," Sean said.

"I know that, but is it safe to go forward?"

"That reminds me. Use the new scope I gave you."

Regina pulled out a black scope and used it to scan the room below her. It seemed to be a place for inventory. No one was in there. "Heh, I forgot about this thing," Regina admitted. "This x-ray gadget should eliminate me having to call you for help so much."

"I'm happy it's of use to you," Sean replied.

"All right, Sean. I'm going in. I'll let you know if I need any help. Until then, keep me posted."

"You got it. Use your new headset to check the map to see where the vault is. I'll be monitoring your surroundings. Good luck."

"Thanks. Over and out." Regina grabbed the edge of the grille and flung it upward. It easily opened, much to her surprise. She went through the opening and landed on the floor below. The room was dark and cold, but there seemed to be gray shelves filled with boxes surrounding Regina. She could barely see a thing, so she turned on her light source. She found a door in one of the corners of the square room and noticed the shelves. "All right," Regina said to herself, "let's see if there's anything that I can use in here." She checked all of the shelves in the room. She found a crowbar, a first-aid kit, and some ammo for her weapons. "Nice," she commented, examining the stuff she found before putting everything in her inventory. "Okay, now to leave." She turned towards the door, walked up to it, scanned the area beyond it, and opened the door.

There was a long hallway in front of her, leading up to a door. There were no cameras, but three perpendicular hallways formed intersections with this corridor: two on the right, one on the left. The left one was the last one before the door. Regina scanned these three hallways with her scope. She noticed that there were three guards patrolling them, one in each hallway. She then checked her map again. Regina concluded that she was going to have to time her movements successfully to get past all of them in order to get to the door, which was her next destination.

Regina started with the first guard. She hugged the wall with her back to it, creeping up to the first perpendicular hallway. The guard came to the end of this hallway, turned around, and went back the other way. Regina quickly ran forward to the other side of the hallway, hugging the wall again. The guard didn't notice her. _Good,_ she thought. _Now for the next one._

Regina moved along the wall up to the second hallway. She waited for the guard to turn her back and quickly leaped forward to the other side of the hallway. _Making some progress,_ she thought. _Let's try the last one._

Regina walked up to the third perpendicular hallway. When she arrived there, she noticed that this hallway was wider than the previous two. Plus, with the way the guard was moving, he seemed to be more alert and more responsive than the previous two guards. _I need to be more careful here._ Regina waited for the guard to move a fair distance away from her and quickly rolled to the other side of the hallway.

The guard heard the noise Regina made and immediately turned around. He walked up to the hallway she was in.

_Oh, no,_ Regina thought. _I think he heard me move. I'm a goner. Shoot!_

The guard inched forward until he reached the end of his hallway. He stuck his head out and looked both ways down the perpendicular hallway: first right, then left. He noticed Regina standing on the left. She was holding a gun aimed at his neck. Within a fraction of a second of eye contact, she pulled the trigger. A dart flew out of the weapon and hit the man's neck. He jerked as a response and saw the dart on his neck. Within three seconds, he fell down onto the floor with a soft thud, out cold. Regina opened the vent next to her and stuffed the guard in there, closing it afterwards. _Dang, that was close,_ she thought.

Regina turned towards the door. It was white and metallic with black edges. Next to the door was an electronic swipe card lock. _Darn. I don't have the card. I need to head through this door. I guess I'm going to have to look for one._ Regina cautiously entered the hallway the downed guard was in. She walked to the end where there was another perpendicular hallway. She looked both ways. There was a long path to a door on the left and a nearby door on her right. _I'll check this door first,_ she thought, looking at the door on her right. She scanned the area beyond it and quietly entered.

This new room was a dusty closet, lined with shelves and cleaning supplies. The floor was blue and the ceiling was white. _I need to find that card._ Regina quickly checked all of the shelves. She found nothing particularly useful. _Darn. Now what?_ Knowing that there was no point in being in this room any longer, she quietly exited the area. Back in the hallway, there was that door again on the other side. _Maybe I'll check there next._ Regina moved quickly but quietly down the corridor. She scanned the next area behind the door and went in. There was a wall in front of and left to her. On her right was a path to a door on the left wall. The left wall was lined with medium-sized glass windows. On the other side, there was a room with guard sitting at his desk, facing the windows. Regina hugged the wall in front of her, crouched, and stealthily moved under the windows to the door on the other side of the wall. When she passed the windows she stood up, drew her tranquilizer gun, and quickly entered the room.

She aimed at the man sitting down. He immediately stood up upon noticing Regina's entrance. She fired a dart, but it missed the man, hitting a computer screen and cracking it. The man pulled out a weapon and fired it at Regina. She quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the line of bullets following her. She put away her tranquilizer gun and pulled out her trademark pistol, firing several shots at the man. He dashed out of the way, taking cover in an alcove near him. Regina quickly moved towards the side, faced the alcove and fired at the man. He got out of the alcove and ran to the side, shooting at Regina as he moved. Regina took cover behind his desk.

_Darn it!_ she thought. _How can I get him?_ She thought of an idea. The man decided to check under the desk to see if Regina was there. Regina waited for the man to near the desk. When his legs were behind the gap under the desk, she slid to the side and fired at them. The man went down with a shout of pain. Regina fired a few more shots in quick succession. The man was dead. Regina crawled under the desk and checked the corpse. He was definitely deceased.

She got up and checked all of the desk drawers. In one of them, she found a silver card with some writing on the front and a black stripe on the back. _Nice! This could be the key to that room!_ Regina put away the card and checked her surroundings. No one was around. Regina left the area and entered the previous hallway. The coast was clear. She backtracked all the way to the door with the electronic swipe card lock. She got out her card and swiped the card into the lock. There was a beep, and the light of the lock changed from red to green. The doors quickly slid open. Regina walked into the next room, the doors closing behind her.

This room was a small, square area bordered by white walls. It had a black, tiled floor. A desk stood in the center of the room, and there were shelves and screens everywhere on the walls, with cameras pointed at various locations in the building. It seemed to be a security room. No one, to Regina's surprise, was in the room. "That's odd," she remarked. "No guards?" She walked up to the desk and examined it. There was nothing on top. She checked the desk drawers. She found a bronze key in one of them. "I wonder what this is for. It could come in handy." She put the key in her pocket and continued to raid the desk. Finding nothing else useful, she closed the drawers. She looked around the room and spotted the shelves. "I'll check in these." Regina walked over to some of the shelves and opened them. She found a white card. "Another key?" Regina put the card in her pocket and resumed her search. She found some pistol clips, some sub-machine gun clips, and a piece of paper with a numbered code on it. "Hmmm, what's this? A code? Could be useful..."She took all of the clips and the code, leaving everything else untouched.

Regina continued her search for useful items. By the time she finished checking the last shelf, she heard distant footsteps behind the entrance door. Regina quickly turned towards the door and user her scope. Beyond the door, in the hallway, there was a tall, skinny man walking towards the door. He wore a security uniform composed of a black police officer cap, a brown buttoned shirt with a yellow badge on it, a black belt, and black pants. He greeted the guards in the first two perpendicular hallways Regina crossed earlier and was one-fourth of the way to the security room.

_Ah, so that's who runs this place!_ Regina thought. She had to act quickly, or she would be caught. She looked around the room, but there were no doors. She quickly checked her map to find out where to go next. She found an exit on the ceiling: a vent. Regina jumped up to reach the grille of the vent, but it was just beyond her reach. She saw the desk, pulled it until it was under the ceiling and quickly mounted it. She jumped up and grabbed the grille. She pulled it open downwards and dropped onto the floor. The grille hung onto the vent, but the vent was now open. The security guard was three-quarters of the way to the door. Regina mounted the desk again and grabbed the spot where the grille was attached, hanging from the edge. She quickly pulled herself up into the vent and closed the grille shut.

Fifteen seconds later, the guard entered the room. He pulled up a chair from a nearby wall, went to the other side of the desk, and sat down in his chair. He noticed that his desk was shifted a foot from it's original position. "That's odd," he declared. "Did someone come in here?"

Regina froze. _Frick,_ she thought, looking at the man below her through the grille.

The guard shrugged his shoulders. "Must have been a custodian cleaning up in here."

_Sure, let's go with that,_ Regina commented. She checked her map, turned around, and went the other way down the vent. After a while she came to a vent opening in front of her with a wall marking a dead end. She checked her map and scanned the area below her. She then opened the grille, went through it, and dropped onto the ground, landing on her toes.

Regina was in a hallway with light blue walls and a white floor. She looked behind and in front of her. No one was in sight. In front of her, several feet away, there was an elevator. Regina walked up to it and pressed the button shaped like an up arrow. It took fifteen seconds for the elevator to come to her floor. When its doors opened, Regina walked inside. The elevator had mirrors on three of its walls and was bright red. Elevator music played. The buttons that gave access to other floors were shiny and colorful. Regina pressed a button, and the silver doors closed. The elevator started going up. When it arrived several floors higher, its doors slowly opened.

Regina faced a new corridor. There were crates scattered on the white floor against the white walls. Right in the middle of the hallway were two guards talking to each other. Regina saw them and ducked behind a nearby crate. She stuck her head upwards and glanced at the guards again. She ducked and equipped her suppressed sniper rifle. She stuck her head out again and aimed the sniper rifle at one of the guard's heads. She looked through the scope, lined up the reticule with the target, and fired. A bullet soundlessly exited the barrel of the weapon and struck the guard on his head. He let out a shriek and fell to the ground. The other guard flinched in alarm and drew his weapon. Regina moved the reticule towards his head and fired again. A head shot occurred, and the second man fell to the ground. Regina scanned the place for any more guards. She ran past the crates to the door on the other side of the corridor. She opened the door and entered.

Regina found herself in a high-tech room. Computers and buttons lined most of the white walls, and the tables had flat devices on them that projected holograms. Up on the ceiling was a camera, monitoring the room. No one occupied this place.

Regina saw the camera and quickly hid behind a computer. _Darn,_ she thought. _Did it see me?_ Fortunately, the camera was not facing her direction. _Whew. I need to be more careful._

Regina took out a new gun and fired a projectile at the camera. The projectile latched onto the camera's surface and sent out an electrical charge, short-circuiting the device. It was rendered useless.

Regina put away the gun and walked across the room, moving towards the door on the other side. After a brief scan, Regina opened the door, entering a white corridor that led to an elevator. She headed towards the elevator and saw a sign on it. "NOT IN SERVICE," it read.

"Darn!" Regina swore. "What the frick do I do now?" She talked into her headset. "Sean, can you hear me? I'm stuck, and I need help."

There was no answer.

"Sean?" Regina asked. "Sean, can you hear me? Why are you not responding?"

No answer.

"Darn it," Regina swore. She was going to have to think of a plan herself since her tech wasn't answering her calls. Five minutes passed. Regina finally had an idea. She could climb up the elevator shaft to the next floor. It sounded risky, but there wasn't another way up. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Regina remarked. She got out a small, orange rectangular object and put it on the ground. She pulled out a remote and started using it, pressing a few buttons. The object extended upwards a few feet and bent itself at a right angle towards the elevator doors, wedging its end in the crack between them. Regina pressed another button on the remote. Two poles emerged sideways from the end of the orange object and suddenly forced the two doors open. The object reverted to its original state and remained motionless.

Regina picked up the device, put both it and the remote away, and looked through the elevator. She faced a dark blue, empty, cold elevator shaft that went up and down. In the center was a long, wired rope. "Good," Regina said to herself. "I can use this." She jumped towards the rope and grabbed it. She wrapped her legs around the rope and started climbing upwards. She tried not to look below herself as she ascended the rope.

Twenty minutes passed. Regina was fifteen feet below her destination when she heard a loud, thumping sound from above. She glanced upwards and saw a stationary elevator, seemingly not in service. However, the elevator started whirring and slowly started coming back down, heading towards Regina.

"Oh, shoot!" Regina exclaimed as she noticed the elevator accelerating towards her. If it got to her, it would fracture her skull, smash her downwards, and possibly crush her. She had to act fast or else she would be surely be dead. Regina looked down below her. Going back down would take too long, and the elevator would plow right into her before she got back to the entrance. Her only option was to get out of the way from where she is now. Regina looked around for a few seconds. She found a vent behind her. This could be her way to safety.

The elevator was moving faster. Regina turned on the rope to face the vent. With a powerful kick, she forced the grille open, knocking it into the vent. The elevator was thirty feet away from Regina. Within seconds, it would collide into her, smacking her to the bottom of the shaft. Regina put her legs into the vent and used the rope to push herself into the vent. The elevator missed her arms by an inch as she entered the vent. The elevator continued downwards, all the way to the bottom of the shaft, stopping on the first floor.

Regina was safe for now. She rolled over to a prone position and pushed herself up to a kneeling position. "Darn, that was _too_ close!" she uttered.

A voice came through her headset. "Hello?" it asked. "Regina, can you hear me?"

Regina spoke into her headset. "Sean, is that you?" she asked.

"The one and only."

"Where the _frick_ where you when I needed you!?"

"Sorry, my equipment was malfunctioning."

"Well, didn't you _check_ it before you used it?"

"Paul accidentally spilled coffee all over my desk, damaging my communications equipment. Sorry about that."

After hearing Sean's side of the story and remembering that she just avoided certain death, she softened up on him. "Forget about it," she replied. "At least I'm alive."

Sean smiled. "So, where are you now?" he inquired.

"I'm in a vent next to an elevator shaft. I had to climb up several floors because the darn elevator wasn't in service."

"Why are you in a ventilation shaft, then?"

"The elevator turned on and started to plummet towards me. I had to duck into a vent to avoid it. The darn thing nearly got me."

"Someone must have either fixed it or turned it on."

"You _think_?"

"Sorry for stating the obvious. Are you going to climb up again?"

"There's no point in going back down, so I don't see why not."

"You may proceed, then. Watch for the elevator if it comes up again."

"I know, I know." Regina crawled forward towards the vent opening. She squatted and leapfrogged forward, grabbing the rope again. She quickly resumed her ascent, eventually reaching her destination. She pulled out the retractable orange object and stuck it into the crack between the two doors blocking the floor. She used her remote on it once more to force the doors open. Regina noticed the elevator coming up again, but she was already in the floor before it could hit her again. She saw it go past her up to the top floor. _Good luck trying to hit me again,_ she thought.

Regina turned her attention to the hallway behind her. It was another white one, but it led to a white door with a lock. Regina walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. _Great, another dead end,_ she thought. _A locked door is just what I need right now._ Regina thought about what to do next. She then remembered the key she found in the security room several floors down. She took out the key, put it in the lock, and twisted it. The door unlocked without a problem. She opened the door and went inside.


	10. The Great Heist - Part Three

Regina entered another room for storing inventory. It was bigger and cleaner than the last one, and a white light illuminated the place. Regina saw two shelves, one on each wall on either side of her. In front of her was a wall with a door. Regina began raiding the shelves and found some ammo for her sniper rifle and a silver key. _I wonder what this is for,_ she thought, putting the key in her pocket. Regina finished her search and quietly left the room.

Regina entered another corridor and froze. Someone was standing a few feet away from her, but his back was turned. He had a sub-machine gun in his hands and appeared to be watching the path in front of him. Luckily, he didn't hear Regina when she opened the door.

_Oh, shoot!_ Regina thought. _I need to get rid of him._ She remembered her crowbar. _That's it! I'll use this!_

Regina took out her crowbar, sneaked up behind the guard, and whacked him on the head hard. He grunted and fell forward onto the floor, unconscious. _This thing's nice,_ Regina thought, swinging the weapon around before putting it away. She went to the door at the end of the hallway.

When Regina closed the door behind her, she found a catwalk in front of her. Regina looked below the catwalk and found that she was above a conference area, with five English men below, sitting around a large table. They started talking.

"Marco, can you believe how successful we are?" one man said.

"I sure do, Jerry," Marco replied.

"We'll be even more successful with the new hardware we plan on releasing weeks later," Jerry commented.

"We are the fastest growing corporation in London," said another man. "We will soon take over the city with our products."

"This is so exciting, Maxwell!" a fourth man agreed.

"Yes, Chester, it is," Maxwell said.

"Wait," someone else interrupted. "We can't get all excited yet."

"Why, Damien?" Chester asked.

"We have to make sure our business is in top condition," Damien answered. "Our hardware is unparalleled in the _world_. We need to make sure it stays that way; it can't be obsolete or deteriorated. Not only that, but our hardware is very important. The new hardware upgrade Jerry mentioned is incredible. It powers up devices and allows them to run on great amounts of almost any energy. Enhancing computers and other electronics with this upgrade will bring us millions. In conclusion, we _must_ be careful with this thing or else it can fall into the wrong hands."

All the men nodded in agreement.

A man from outside the room shouted something. "Lunch time!"

"Oh, good," Maxwell stated. "It's time for our meal. Come, gentlemen."

The five gentlemen stood up from their chairs and left the room. Regina eavesdropped on their conversation. _Wait,_ she thought. _A hardware upgrade capable of allowing electronics to run on 3rd Energy? No wonder Sean needed the cube so much._ Regina spoke into her headset. "Sean?" she asked. "I thought you said _software_ upgrade, not _hardware_ upgrade."

"Sorry, I forgot about that," Sean said.

"That's peculiar of you."

"Well, when you're under stress, you can mess things up."

"What stress could you be under now?"

"Never mind. The upgrade?"

"Oh, yeah. Hardware instead of software? That makes more sense. Computers can't do technical feats like that in an instant with a simple software upgrade."

"Indeed. Now, you just need to keep going to the vault to get the hardware upgrade."

"It can't be a disc, can it? Is it something else?"

"A computer chip, as a matter of fact."

"I see."

"Sorry for the mix-up."

"...that's fine. I'll be going now." Regina thought about the error Sean made. _"Software upgrade?" He never messes up technical terms or mixes up discs with chips._ She put aside the thought and crossed the catwalk into another hallway. She reached the end of the hallway and turned left. A locked door was at the end of the path, containing a silver keyhole. Regina used the silver key she found and opened the door. She faced a blue corridor, filled with red laser traps jutting out in all directions, blocking her path. She must be getting close to the vault. _I have to get through all of these, don't I?_ Regina wondered. _The lasers of the trap don't look that hard to get around..._

Regina readied herself and headed straight for the lasers. She rolled under the first one, jumped over the second one, cartwheeled past the third one, jumped on and off the left wall to pass the fourth and fifth ones, performed a side aerial over the sixth one, did a lateral midair twist to avoid touching the seventh, eighth, and ninth ones, and flipped over the last one. At last, she was past the lasers and in front of a golden elevator with chrome up and down arrow buttons on a silver rectangle latched to the wall. A white card lock was above the elevator buttons. Regina swiped the white card she found in the security room through the lock. It beeped. Regina pressed the up button, and the elevator doors opened instantly. She stepped inside and found that the interior of the elevator was also golden, except for the white carpet on the floor. She saw that there were only two buttons to press: one that lead straight to the vault and one that led back down to this floor. She pressed the former.

The elevator went up to the vault and opened its doors. Regina was in a small, completely white room. The vault was just in front of her, and its door was also white. Next to it was an electronic numbered code lock with a red light positioned above the keypad.

"This has to be it!"Regina commented. "This must be the vault! I can't believe I'm almost done!" She walked up to the vault door and saw the lock. "Darn it!" she swore. "Another lock?"

Sean heard her words. "Regina," he spoke, "what's wrong?"

"I'm at the vault, but I need a code to unlock the door to get inside."

"Use your other scope, and let me examine the lock."

Regina used the other scope she had and targeted the lock. Sean ran a scan on it. However, the scan failed after ten seconds. "I can't believe this," he stated.

"What is it?" Regina asked.

"I can't find the code for this lock."

"What? You can't?"

"No. It's a specialized lock that prevents any electromagnetic signal from going anywhere near it. Since the scope emits electromagnetic waves..."

"...you can't scan the lock. Darn it. Any other ideas?"

"Not for the moment. Sorry."

Regina sighed. "Great," she complained.

"Do you have any ideas?" Sean inquired.

"No." Regina paused. "Wait. Hold on..." She pulled out the piece of paper she snagged from the security room, stared at the numbered code on it, and read the code. "'3498756012.'"

"What?" Sean asked, not understanding what Regina said.

"'3498756012.' The code is '3498756012!'"

"Really? How did you figure that out?"

"I grabbed a piece of paper from the security room that had a numbered code on it. It's a good thing I found it. Now to enter the code."

Regina inputted the code into the lock, which made various beeping sounds with every key press. The light on the lock changed from red to green. After five seconds, the vault door slowly opened, revealing a small room with a table inside against the wall parallel to the vault door. This table had a green box on it.

"Sean, is that it?" Regina asked him. "Is that the upgrade?"

"I would say so," Sean replied.

"All right!" Regina shouted in joy.

"Yep, it's ours. Now, grab it, and get out of there."

"Right." Regina stepped inside the vault with excitement, eager to grab the box and leave. Unfortunately, this was a fatal flaw for her. Regina hastily stepped into the vault without scanning the inside of the vault first. Had she done so in the first place, she would have found hidden cameras on the ceiling of the vault. These detected whether anyone who entered the vault had a badge on that showed their employee status of the place. Regina lacked an employee badge, so the cameras noticed that, sending signals to nearby alarms, causing them to go off just when Regina picked up the box. "Whoa, what the heck!?" she shouted. "What's going on!?"

"You just set off an alarm!" Sean answered.

"What!? How!?"

"I guess there were hidden sensors in the vault...and we didn't bother to check first."

"Darn it! Darn it! Darn it! How can this happen _again_?" Regina looked behind her and saw the elevator door. It immediately closed, and the elevator went down to the lower floor. "Oh, no! Shoot!"

Sean noticed the elevator leaving and tried to find another way out. His efforts were futile. "Regina, I can't seem to find another way out of here!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Regina put the box in her inventory and buried her hands in her face, trying to come up with a plan.

"Hold on. You might not be able to _find_ a way out of here, but maybe you can _make_ a way out of here."

Regina raised her head. "What do you mean?"

"Break out of this room."

_Of course!_ Regina thought. She exited the vault, which quickly sealed itself behind her. If she had spent a second more in there, she would have been trapped. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, turning around and seeing the closed vault. She looked to the walls by her sides and checked her map of the building. According to it, she could make a possible exit by going through the left wall. Regina grabbed an explosive device, planted it on the wall, and ran back to the other wall. In five seconds, the charge exploded, obliterating the wall. The newly formed hole revealed a closet with a door. Regina saw the door and scrambled for it. She quickly opened it and entered the other side.

She found herself in the corner of an L-shaped hallway, with four guards total on both sections. At this point, it didn't matter whether or not Regina was spotted. She needed to leave as soon as possible. They saw her as soon as she left the room. Regina equipped her sub-machine guns and fired at all of the guards, hitting three of them. The last one ran towards her in the hallway perpendicular to the door, firing his weapon. Regina sprinted forward in the corridor directly facing her. The guard continued to run after her, rapidly firing at her. Regina looked behind her and fired her guns at the man chasing her. The bullets pierced his legs. He collapsed onto the ground, screaming in pain. Something flew out of his pocket and landed several feet ahead of him. Regina looked forward and continued to run, not stopping for anything.

She eventually came to the end of the hallway, leading to a dead end. There was a door on the wall next to her. It had a golden keyhole. Regina checked her pockets but didn't have the proper key with her. "Shoot!" she swore. She looked back into the hallway and found an object a few feet away from her, glittering on the floor. "What is that?" She ran to it and picked it up. "Hey! A golden key! How convenient! I must have missed this while I was running." Regina returned to the door and tried the key on the lock. The door opened, and she quickly entered the room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

Regina was in another ordinary closet with shelves and a vent on the ceiling. Having no time to check the shelves, Regina jumped for the vent and quickly detached the grille, sending it to the ground. She jumped up towards the vent again, grabbed the edge, and pulled herself up. She looked at her map again, bringing up a section of the ventilation system she was in. Regina found a possible route and quickly navigated her way through the vents to the shaft above the first floor. She found a grille, removed it, and dropped through the opening to the floor. She saw the front doors of the building on her left and made a beeline for them.

Regina burst through the doors, alarming the dogs and guards in the area outside at dusk. She took out an explosive charge and threw it at the locked fenced doors ahead. It latched on and exploded, but the doors did not get damaged. Apparently, they were far too strong. "What the heck!?" Regina shouted as the guards and dogs looked at her.

Regina's fight-or-flight response kicked in. She ran in one direction away from the two pairs of guards and dogs, not caring for the searchlights targeting her. She ran around the dusty ground, the guards and dogs running her down. She nearly tripped a few times but still managed to keep her balance. The guards and dogs from all four corners of the area quickly cornered her behind the back of the building. She hugged the fence behind her as the guards and dogs surrounded her.

"Well, well, well," one of the guards said. "Look what we have here! An intruder!"

"I _hate_ intruders!" another guard shouted in a gravelly tone.

"What should we do with her?" the third guard said.

"I say we let the dogs decide," the last guard suggested. All four dogs barked ferociously, foaming at their mouths.

"Help!" Regina screamed.

Just then, there was the sound of moving rotors, and a light from above flashed on Regina. She looked up and saw a descending helicopter with someone standing in it, waving at her. The person was a somewhat muscular African-American male with a box-shaped hairdo. He wore the same government agent uniform as Regina. "Hey!" he shouted.

"Rick!" Regina shouted in delight. The man was her ally from the mission where she, he, and Gail went to Ibis Island.

Rick threw a ladder down the side of the helicopter. It landed next to Regina. "Grab on!" Rick shouted.

Regina grabbed onto the ladder, and the ladder started going back up to the helicopter.

"Hey!" the first guard shouted. "She's getting away!"

"After her!" the second guard ordered.

The dogs barked and readied themselves to pounce on Regina. Regina saw them and scurried up the ladder. The dogs ran and leaped up towards Regina but missed her—and the ladder—by a few inches. Regina was out of harm's way. _Thank god,_ she thought, breathing a sigh of relief.

The end of the ladder neared the helicopter as the vehicle hovered over the area with the frustrated guards and dogs. Rick helped Regina into the helicopter. "I thought you might need my help!" he declared, smiling.

"Good timing!" Regina replied, hugging him.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered, immensely grateful for his appearance. "Just fine."

Rick faced the pilot. "We have completed our mission. Back to America, please."

"You got it," the pilot responded. The chopper flew out of London and headed straight for America, the distant shouts of the irritated guards and dogs fading behind it as it flew into the dusky sky.


	11. A New Member on the Team

The Timegate was in the lab, 50% completed, and Sean, Mark, David, and John were in the room waiting for Regina's return. After five hours of a trip back to America, Regina and Rick entered the researchers' room at night. Sean was the first to notice their entrance. "Ah, Regina!" he said. "You're back..." He paused, looking at Rick. "...with someone else."

"Yes," Regina responded. "I have the hardware upgrade here, and... Wait. Where's Paul?"

"He wasn't feeling too well, so he went home." Sean stared at Rick. "Who are you?" he addressed him.

"My name is Rick," Rick replied. "I am Regina's comrade and close friend. I work for S.O.R.T."

"I see," Sean said. "Not to be rude, but why are you here?"

"I noticed that Regina took a leave of absence. It didn't seem like her to do that, so I went to investigate. Regina wasn't at her apartment when I arrived, but I noticed her leaving it. I followed her all the way here, and overheard what you guys were planning to do in England. When Regina left for England, I followed her in a helicopter. As I predicted, she was in trouble when she stole the upgrade. I arrived at the scene, ready to get her safely out of there. So, that's why I'm here."

Mark grimaced. "Don't you know to mind your own dang business?" he rudely asked Rick.

Regina gave him a death stare. "Mark, don't start!" she said to him.

Rick laughed, shaking off Mark's rudeness. "No, he's right. I shouldn't have gotten into your business like that. But, if I hadn't, Regina would have been dog food."

"Whatever," Mark replied.

"Just to confirm, you're a government agent, too, correct?" Sean asked Rick.

"Yes," Rick answered.

_Great,_ Sean thought. _Now, he's going to ruin our plans._

Regina knew what Sean was thinking and assured him that there was nothing to worry about. "Don't worry, Sean. You can trust him. I already told him everything, anyway."

Sean suspiciously looked at Rick. "Are you sure?" he asked Rick.

"Yes," Rick said. "I can keep a secret."

"I certainly hope so." He changed the subject. "Everyone, we have collected two of our three needed items: the blueprints to the Timegate and the hardware upgrade."

"66% of the way done!" John happily said.

"Naw, really?" Mark sarcastically stated.

John told Mark to shut up. David told John and Mark to behave themselves.

Sean continued his speech. "Now, we need to get one last item: a plutonium rod. As I've said before, this is located in a secret facility in Russia. Regina will sneak in there, grab the item, and leave the place."

Rick didn't seem too sure of this part of the plan; in fact, he didn't seem too sure of the _whole_ plan. "Are you positive that we need this item?" he inquired.

"Yes," Sean answered. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that this whole plan seems a bit much. Do we really need all of these items? Isn't the 3rd Energy Data Disk enough?"

"Who asked you?" Mark said to Rick.

"No one asked me. I'm just putting my thoughts out there."

"I don't care for your thoughts. We are going through with Sean's plan, whether you like it or not."

"Keep in mind that I am a technical genius, too. And, there's no need to be rude, you know. Not everyone is uninterested in my words as you are."

"Yeah, Mark," David agreed. "Learn some manners."

Mark turned his head in another direction and let out a "hmmph".

"Ignore him," Sean said to Rick. He then addressed Regina. "So, Regina, when are you leaving for Russia?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," Regina declared.

"That fast?" Rick questioned her. "You don't want to take a longer break after all you've been through?"

Regina turned to Rick. "No. I want to save Dylan as quickly as possible, even if it means little rest for a few days." She turned towards the door and left the room.

John stared at her dreamily. "Isn't she great?" he asked everyone in the room.

"She's all right," Mark simply replied. "I'll be leaving now. Good-bye, everyone." He grabbed his coat from a nearby rack and left the room.

Rick turned to Sean. "So, a plutonium rod?"

"Yes," Sean replied. "We need it to power the Timegate."

"Are you sure the disk isn't enough? Regina told me that in her adventure in the past, she planned to use it to build a Timegate to get back to her own time, so I figured-"

"No, no, that's incorrect. We need all of these items to get this Timegate working flawlessly."

"Well, okay. If you say so." Rick faced the door and left the room, still not trustful of Sean's plan. _Something isn't right,_ he thought, leaving the research facility.


	12. Shivering in Siberia - Part One

The chopper arrived in Siberia at 10:00 A.M. and stopped near the facility housing the plutonium rod. The pilot dropped a ladder over the side of the vehicle. Regina thanked the pilot for his help and climbed down on the ladder towards the chilly ground. When she stepped onto the snow, the pilot pulled up the ladder, returned to his seat, and left the area.

Regina wore a special camouflage suit that not only helped her blend in with her surroundings but also regulated her body temperature. Her new boots insulated her feet from the cold and the snow, and her gloves and cap did the same to her hands and head, respectively. _Thank goodness Sean made this suit and these boots, so I wouldn't freeze my butt off here,_ she thought. Regina also wore a pair of special goggles that blocked out UV rays from the sun reflected off the snow, preventing her from getting snow-blind. Overall, she was well prepared for the freezing weather.

There was a downside to doing this mission, though. Sean could not communicate with Regina at any time for two reasons. The first reason was that Regina was on the other side of the world, far, far away from North America. Sean's communication technology could not work from that distance. The second reason was that since the facility was secret, no signals from outside technology can get anywhere near it. This prevented Regina from gaining access to a map of the facility, as well as eliminating the chance of her using any of her gadgets. In other words, she was going to have to locate the plutonium rod by herself. _Darn it, _she thought._ No outside help, not even from my gadgets. I guess I'm performing this task solo._

Regina looked around herself and saw nothing but falling snow and thick, numerous mounds of it on the ground. She eventually spotted the secret facility but noted that it was a mile away. Getting there would take some time. _All right, let's do this._ She ran towards the facility, her boots each making a crunching sound with each footstep she took, leaving a trail of footprints behind her.

After fifteen minutes of running and jogging, Regina finally arrived at the front of the secret facility, ducking behind a nearby mound of snow to avoid being seen. She examined it thoroughly. The building was gray, rectangular, and smaller than she expected. It had three floors, and a tall wall surrounded the bottom of it. The facility looked quite intimidating for its size. Regina noticed green fumes coming out of the back of the building and spotted a few nuclear reactors operating there.

The entrance to the building was a gate in the tall wall, guarded by two sentries with one on each side of it. They held AK-47 guns. Regina saw them and pulled out her tranquilizer gun. She aimed it and fired at the guard to the left of the gate, followed by the guard on the other side of the gate. Down they both fell. She left the mound of snow and went up to the gate, which needed a key. Regina walked up to the sleeping guards and checked their pockets for the key to the gate. The second guard had it in his back pocket. She relieved him of his bronze key and used it to open the gate. The gate opened just a crack, making a loud, creaking noise. Regina pushed the gate more and went past the wall.

The snowy perimeter of the building was thankfully unoccupied. Regina saw the front doors of the building several yards away; however, she couldn't go that way. The doors needed a swipe card to unlock, and she would be easily caught if she went that way; it's far too conspicuous for her. Instead, Regina went to the air vent several feet to the right of the doors and opened it. She entered, closing it behind her.

Regina navigated the vent until she reached a dark closet. She entered the room quietly, drawing her pistol. After checking her surroundings, she put away her gun and scanned the shelves in the closet. She found some night-vision goggles and a first-aid kit, putting them away in her inventory. She finished her hunt for items and left the room soundlessly.

Regina found herself in a gray corridor with multiple doors on each side. A nearly identical one intersected it perpendicularly, forming an area shaped like a cross. Elevators were at the ends of the perpendicular hallway. At the end of the first hallway was a door leading to the nuclear reactors outside. On the other end were the front doors of the facility on Regina's left. This area seemed to be the first floor. Regina deduced that she was going to have to check all of the rooms on all three floors in order to find that plutonium rod.

Guards patrolled the two hallways in the cross-shaped area. Fortunately, they weren't facing Regina. When their backs were turned, Regina fired tranquilizer darts at them, effectively incapacitating them. She turned to the front doors of the facility. A door was near the entrance. Regina went up to it and entered the room.

This room was a small office with blue walls and a brown floor. There were file cabinets against the wall opposite the door. A desk was to the right of the door upon entering. A fat Russian man was sitting behind it, but he was sleeping. Regina scanned the room but didn't find the nuclear item. She left quietly, being careful not to wake the sleeping man.

_Let's try the next room,_ Regina thought. She went down the hallway, past the first room she entered earlier. She found another door to her left and opened it. Another closet greeted her. She looked inside the shelves and cupboards in the room but found nothing of use to her, leaving the room afterwards.

Regina checked the rest of the rooms on the first floor but still couldn't locate the rod. She decided to move up a floor, so she went to one of the elevators of the first floor and used it to go to the second floor.

The second floor was nearly identical to the first floor. The only thing different was the placement of the rooms. This time, four guards patrolled the hallways, two on each one. As soon as the elevator door opened, Regina stepped out and started firing. She hit two of the guards with tranquilizer darts. The other two noticed her appearance and started firing at her. Regina moved out of the way and took out her pistol. She fired at the two remaining guards and managed to hit one of them, subduing him. The other one ducked behind a hallway. Regina walked up closely with her gun aimed towards the hiding spot of the last guard. Unfortunately, the man caught her by surprise, sticking part of his body out from behind the end of the corridor and rapidly firing several shots at Regina. One of his shots hit Regina in her left arm.

"OWWW!" Regina cried out, dropping her weapon. "SHOOT!" The guard saw that he shot her in the arm and started quickly advancing towards her, keeping his weapon drawn. When the man was about to fire, Regina forgot about her pain, picked up her weapon, darted to the side, and fired at the man, missing him. The guard went past her as she dodged him. He turned around and fired several more shots at Regina, nearing her again. Regina performed a rolling dive under the bullets towards the man and executed a sweeping kick, causing him to trip and hit the floor hard. He cried out in pain. Regina had enough of him at this point and walked up to him. He drew his weapon, only to receive a roundhouse kick to the face, becoming unconscious immediately afterwards.

After subduing him, Regina looked at her arm. "Ow...," she said in discomfort. The bullet was not in her arm, but it left a small hole upon leaving. The area was considerably bleeding, but there were no signs of a bone fracture. _This hurts so much!_ she thought. _Frick!_ She wondered how she was going to continue her mission. She wanted to use the Cylinder of Life Sean gave her earlier, but she forgot to bring it on the trip. She then remembered the first-aid kit she snagged earlier. Regina took out the kit and opened it. She took out a tourniquet and wrapped it around her arm above the wound. She applied some hydrogen peroxide to the wound and put antiseptic ointment over the peroxide. She took out some gauze, placed it on the wound, and wrapped a bandage around it to finish healing the injury.

"That's somewhat better," Regina commented, examining her arm. She swallowed her pain, looked around herself, and saw several doors, waiting to be opened. "All right, let's do this!" she declared. She checked the rest of the rooms on the second floor, without any luck. _On to the third floor,_ she thought, taking an elevator to the last floor.

The last floor was shaped like a giant tic-tac-toe board. Eight guards patrolled all four hallways. _I must be getting closer,_ Regina wondered, spotting the guards. _There are more guards every time I advance a floor._ All of the sentries saw Regina inside the elevator when it opened and readied themselves to shoot her. Regina put on some sunglasses, took out a flash bang, and threw it towards the guards, exploding on contact with the floor. There was a sudden, large, bright flash, blinding all of men in the area. Regina darted towards the men, and with a series of lightning-fast kicks and punches, she knocked all of them out, rendering them unconscious right before the flash dissipated.

"Heck, yeah!" Regina cheered, proud of what she just did. She brought her attention back to the mission and decided to check the perimeter of the floor before heading to the center in order to do a thorough search. She went through all of the rooms surrounding the center of the floor, shooting and incapacitating anyone in her way. Again, she couldn't find the rod in any of these rooms.

Regina headed towards the center of the third floor. This was the only area left in the facility to check. A large, dark gray, metallic door blocked her way inside, accompanied by an electronic lock next to it. Regina used her stun gun on the lock, and the door slid upwards, revealing a dark room. Regina put on her night-vision goggles and turned them on, scanning the room. She found a safe several feet away from the door. She walked up to it and repeatedly turned the combination lock on it. After several attempts of finding the correct combination of the lock, the safe door clicked and opened. Regina swung the door aside and saw the plutonium rod inside, against the wall. She took out some tongs and used them to grab the rod, carefully removing the rod from the safe. She moved it closer to her and inspected it. "At last, I finally have all three items!" she delightfully stated. "Dylan and Paula, here I come!"

Something disastrous happened. The entire rod disintegrated, leaving green dust in its wake. "What the heck!?" Regina shouted. The lights in the room suddenly turned on, much to Regina's surprise. She then heard a man laughing behind her, turning around only to find a big, burly, Russian man staring directly at her, with two smaller guards standing by his sides, with weapons pointed at her. He spoke in a gruff voice. "I see we have an unwelcome guest," he said.

Regina froze in fear. She couldn't believe that she was caught..._again._ "Shoot!" she exclaimed, realizing that she just fell into a trap.

The man noted Regina's exclamation. "Surprising, isn't it?" he asked her.

Regina put her tongs and her goggles away and raised her arms up next to her head, exhibiting her surrender. The two guards ran to her and stood by her sides, guns still pointed at her.

"That's much better," the big man said with a thick Russian accent. "I'm glad I thought of this plan in the first place. Catching intruders has never been more clever and more hilarious than this." He paused to laugh. "Now, Miss. If you would be so kind to come with me."

Regina walked up to the man, arms still raised. The guards followed her, keeping their weapons drawn. When Regina was next to the man, he violently pushed her into the hallway, almost causing her to lose her balance. He overtook her and walked to the elevator, motioning the guards to make her follow him. When they all entered the elevator, the Russian man took out a key, stuck it in a keyhole under the elevator buttons, and turned the key, revealing a secret panel located further below the buttons. This panel contained an extra button. The man pushed it, and the elevator descended. After thirty seconds, the doors opened, showing a irregularly shaped underground floor in the facility, with brown hallways and a gray floor.

_I didn't know this was here,_ Regina thought. The man stepped out of the elevator. The guards pushed Regina forwards out of the elevator, nearly making her trip. She walked behind the big Russian man, followed by the two guards. They walked down the corridor and made a right onto another corridor. They made another right onto the next hallway and made a left onto another hallway. At the end of this hallway was a brown, metallic door with a number key electronic lock next to it.

During the trip towards the metallic door, Regina decided to have a little conversation with the Russian man to lighten the mood. "So," she started, trying to smile, "what's your name?"

The man gave her a puzzled look. "My name is of no concern to you," he responded. He paused, looking away. "But, if you must know, I am named 'Sergei,' named after my great-grandfather 'The Great Sergei,' who fought in World War II, bringing great honor to this country and my family."

"I see," Regina replied. "'Sergei.' What a nice name."

"Thank you," Sergei said.

"My name is Regina, if you wanted to know."

"Whatever."

"So, what's your family like? Do you guys spend a lot of time together?"

"Shut up. I no longer wish to talk to you. I don't like speaking to intruders so much."

"Are you sure? Because we could really get to know each other well-"

"SHUT UP!" Sergei shouted right next to Regina's face, almost shattering her right eardrum. "You are my prisoner. When I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?"

"I understand," Regina weakly replied, no longer smiling.

"Good. Now, _zip it_," Sergei commanded.

When they all arrived at the brown door with the electronic lock, Sergei typed in a code and the door slid open sideways. A hallway appeared, lined with rows of empty jail cells on both sides. Sergei and the others walked all the way to the end and stopped. Sergei turned to his right. A jail cell at the end of the hallway greeted him. Sergei opened the door to the cell and pointed at the inside of the cell. "Here you go, Miss Regina," he stated.

Regina looked inside the cell. The walls were dirty, and the sheets on the bed looked as if they hadn't been washed in months. There were cobwebs near the ceiling, and the gray floor had soot scattered all over it. Did someone build a fire in here?

"Ew," Regina commented. "This is definitely no five-star hotel. May I request a better room?"

Sergei and his guards had enough of Regina's annoying commentary. "Girl, get your behind in there," Sergei replied. They all pushed her into the room and closed the jail door, locking it. She tripped and landed on the floor, face-down.

"Ow!" Regina said, grabbing her left arm when it made contact with the floor.

"Enjoy your stay, Miss." Sergei said to Regina, with a naughty look. He then let out an evil laugh and walked down the hallway, laughing the whole way back to the entrance of the jail center. The two guards followed him out of the place, closing the door behind them.

Regina slowly stood up, dusting herself off. She felt hopeless once again, but now, it was more than ever. Every time she became a step closer to her goal, something disastrous always sneaked up on her, ruining any chances she might have of saving Dylan and Paula.

Regina slowly walked to the bed and sat on it. She looked around the cell one more time to find a way out, only to end up in failure again. She buried her hands in her face, grieving over her misfortune. _So close,_ she thought. _So close..._


	13. Shivering in Siberia - Part Two

Sergei used the elevator to return to the first floor. He went to the door leading to the nuclear reactors outside at the back of the building. The area was larger than the facility, with a brown fence surrounding it. Three large nuclear reactors stood in the center, supplying power to the facility. Several Russian men, wearing gray outfits that covered all of their bodies except their faces, stood around them stationed at computers, keeping the reactors cool. Another Russian man was standing near the entrance of this area, leaning against the wall and sleeping.

Sergei walked up this man and violently smashed his fist against the wall. "Hey!" he shouted in Russian. "Dmitri! Wake up!"

Dmitri quickly woke up with a jerk. He was disoriented and rather drowsy. "Yes, Boss?" he asked Sergei, speaking in the same language as him.

"Why are you not at your station?" Sergei inquired. "That is your job, is it not?"

"Well," Dmitri replied, "I was tired from working all of these long shifts, so I took a little break."

"Ah, so you decided to just take a little break on your own during work, eh?" Sergei mocked him, raising his arms. "Great!"

"Yes, sir!" Dmitri replied with a smile, oblivious to Sergei's sarcasm.

Sergei smacked Dmitri upside his head with considerable force. "Fool. Get back to work! I better not see you sleeping on the job again. And, make sure you keep those reactors cool."

"Yes, sir!" Dmitri hurried back over to his post and resumed working.

"Moron," Sergei commented, turning towards the door and going back inside the building.

Dmitri worked for fifteen minutes, operating the computer in front of him. He started to feel sleepy again. "So tired," he flatly stated. He checked his watch, which showed that it was 11:45 a.m. "Sergei told me not to sleep on the job, but he works us so hard!" He looked towards the door to the building, checking to see if Sergei had left. "Well, he's not here right now. Maybe I can rest for fifteen minutes..." He lied down in the snow and dozed off. Everyone else in the area was too busy with work to notice him sleeping on the ground.

An hour elapsed. Dmitri was supposed to keep one of the reactors cool but was too busy catching up on his sleep. During his nap, the temperature in the reactor slowly started to rise, reaching a level just beyond the normal limit.

Another hour passed. Everyone in the room still didn't notice the sleeping Russian man on the ground. They were ordered to stay at their stations and watch the other reactors, not allowing distractions to get in their way. The temperature in Dmitri's reactor rose again, reaching a higher, more unsafe level.

After that point, it wasn't long before someone finally noticed Dmitri taking a nap in the snow. He left his post, walked up to Dmitri, and tried to wake him up, poking him in the shoulder. "Dmitri!" the man said. "Wake up!"

Dmitri did not move. The man tried harder. "Dmitri!" he shouted, shaking him back and forth. "Wake up!"

Dmitri still didn't move. He was one heavy sleeper. The man tried even harder this time. "Dmitri!" he yelled, kicking him in the back. "Wake up!"

Dmitri woke up in surprise, quickly grabbed his back, and stood up. "Ow!" he shouted in pain. "What is it, Mikhail?"

"You're supposed to be working," Mikhail answered. "Why aren't you working?"

Dmitri was still drowsy. "Too...tired...," he responded.

"Get back to work!" Mikhail ordered. He saw the temperature level of Dmitri's reactor. "Fool! You let this thing get too hot! Get it back down to normal level fast!"

"Hmmm? Yeah, sure, okay." Dmitri walked up to the computer of the reactor and worked again. However, at this point, he was so drowsy that he didn't even know what he was doing. He inputted several wrong commands into the computer, making the temperature problem even worse.

Mikhail watched what he was doing. "What are you doing!?" he shouted. "You're making things worse!" He walked up to the computer to attempt to correct the problem, but Dmitri wouldn't let him near the computer, pushing him away.

"I got this," Dmitri stated, still drowsy. "I don't need any help." He typed in more wrong commands into the computer, escalating the severity of the situation by raising the temperatures of all three reactors.

"Fool!" Mikhail replied. "You do not know what you are doing! Let me fix this!" He walked up to the computer again, but Dmitri pushed him away once more, causing him to fall in the snow.

"I said to let me do this!" Dmitri answered, irritated. He put some more incorrect commands into the computer. At this point, the temperature of all of the reactors got so high that a nuclear meltdown was inevitable. Sirens started going off around the facility, alerting everyone in the vicinity.

Mikhail jumped at the sound of the sirens, scared for his life. Dmitri still didn't seem too aware of his surroundings. "Did I fix it?" he drowsily asked.

Mikhail walked up to him and slapped the back of his head with great force. "IDIOT!" he screamed.

The brunt of the slap was enough to completely awaken Dmitri. He grabbed the back of his head. "OW!" he shouted. "Why must everyone smack me?" He then noticed loud sirens blaring. "What's going on?" he asked.

Mikhail tried to refrain from smacking his co-worker again. "Moron! Don't you see what you've done? You've let the temperature of the reactor get too high!"

Dmitri looked at the computer in alarm, noting what he had just done. "Oh, no." he said "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He put his hands on his head.

Mikhail shook his head at him. "Yes, you fool. This is what you did." He rushed back to his station, joining the other workers in attempting to cool down the reactors. Their efforts were futile. "My lord, it's too late!" he shouted. "We've got to take shelter!"

Dmitri watched the spectacle in mass horror. "What have I done?"

Sergei ran into the area. "What is going on!?" he shouted in Russian. He turned to the panicking workers. "Which one of you fools caused this? I want an answer!"

No one moved or uttered a sound.

Sergei became very furious. "NOW!" he bellowed.

The workers jumped in alarm. They went to Dmitri, huddled around him, forcefully grabbed him, and threw him towards Sergei. Dmitri landed in the snow face-down. "Oof!" he grunted.

Sergei walked towards him, giving him a piercing stare. Dmitri momentarily froze and stood up when Sergei stopped in front of him.

Sergei spoke in a very low, gruff, intimidating voice. "So," he asked, "you did this?"

Dmitri froze, not making a sound.

Sergei got impatient. "I'm not going to ask you again! Did you do this?"

Dmitri nervously shook his head.

Sergei's voice became shrill. "Don't lie to me!" He screamed.

Dmitri was shaking all over. He knew how temperamental Sergei was and immediately acquiesced. "Yes," he weakly replied.

Sergei hesitated and all of a sudden struck Dmitri hard across the face, causing him to fall onto the ground. Dmitri rubbed his left cheek, almost on the verge of crying. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was the realization of the fact that he brought this on himself. He didn't deserve to get punched across the face, but his carelessness had caused an emergency situation, and he had no one but himself to blame. He bit his lip and held back his tears. _I'm such a screw-up!_ he thought.

"Get up!" Sergei commanded, almost kicking Dmitri. Dmitri quickly got up, almost falling over again. Sergei grabbed Dmitri's suit collar, picked him up off the ground, went over to the door of the back of the building, and threw him inside the building into a hallway. Dmitri landed face-down again, banging his elbow against the floor. He tried not to shout in pain.

Sergei walked into the hallway. "Get up, you pathetic imbecile!"

Dmitri slowly rose and faced Sergei.

"Make yourself useful for a change, and get the helicopter on the top of the building ready for my escape!" Sergei barked.

Dmitri slowly saluted the big Russian man. "Yes, sir," he replied, his voice laced with sadness.

Sergei faced the rest of the workers. "Get in your vehicles, and prepare to evacuate!" he ordered.

The workers saluted him and began evacuating. Sergei ran down the hallway and bumped into Dmitri, causing him to fall over again. Sergei didn't care to look back at the worker he violently abused.

Sergei continued running down the hallway. He moved quite quickly for a man his size. Unfortunately, a man from the hallway perpendicular to the one he was on got in his way. Sergei abruptly bumped into the man. The man fell backwards and landed on his bottom, and Sergei toppled over towards the floor against the wall, injuring his left leg in the process. "Ow!" he shouted. "My leg!"

The man got up and looked at Sergei. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he said. "Let me help you!"

The man put his arm towards Sergei to help him get up, but Sergei pushed his arm away. "Leave me!" he stated. "I don't want your help!"

"Are you sure?" the man asked. "I can help you!"

"No, I don't need any help! Just get ready to evacuate!"

The man hesitated, looking at Sergei. He then went to evacuate.

When the man left, Sergei tried to help himself up but failed to stand. His leg hurt more and more with every failed attempt to get up. "Grrr," he growled, frustrated. He then sat down in silence and did not move, taking a break.

The sirens continued to blare around the facility. There wasn't much time left. Sergei punched the wall behind him in anger, denting it.


	14. Shivering in Siberia - Part Three

Regina was still in her cell, lamenting over her failure to get the last item she needed. _Am I ever going to save Dylan and Paula!?_ she angrily thought, violently punching her pillow. _Frick!_ She lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling and not uttering a word.

After several more minutes of silence, Regina heard very loud sirens going off in the facility, instantaneously startling her. "What the heck is that noise!?" she wondered.

After thirty seconds, Regina heard another sound. A female mechanical voice started speaking. "This is an emergency situation. Evacuation measures have been started. All doors of the facility are now opened."

All of a sudden, the doors of the prison cells in the jail center automatically unlocked and opened. Regina looked at the opened door to her cell in surprise. "Huh?" she wondered. She got up from her bed and walked to the unlocked door. "Sweet!" she exclaimed, realizing what just happened. She swung the door aside, walked into the hallway, and headed for the exit.

Regina found herself back in the hallways of the underground floor. She noticed that there were several guards and employees running around. "What is going on?" she asked herself. A man ran past her. Regina stopped him. "Excuse me, sir," she addressed him. "What's happening?"

The man looked at her, wondering who she was. "Who are you?" he asked.

Regina dismissed his question. "Never mind that; it's not important. What's going on here?"

"A nuclear meltdown is about to happen! The nuclear reactors of the facility will blow up soon!"

Regina stared at him in surprise. "What!?" she shouted.

The man was in a really big hurry. "I have no time to talk now!" he stated. "We have to leave!" He left the area quickly, leaving Regina dumbfounded.

"Great!" Regina said sarcastically. "Now, how am I going to find that plutonium rod?" She looked around herself. There were few doors on this floor. "If I'm going to do this, I need to hurry!" Regina traversed the corridors on the floor, opening the doors of various rooms. She didn't find the plutonium rod behind most of the doors. In one room, she found a piece of paper with a combination lock number on it, putting the item away in her inventory. _I can find these pretty much anywhere in which I raid items,_ she humorously thought. In another room, she found a large first-aid kit, taking it with her, just in case anything bad happened.

There was one door left, on the other side of the hallway the elevator was on. It was big, gray, and wide, with a lock containing a lettered keypad. "This must be it!" Regina said in delight. She walked up to the door, disappointed to find that _another_ code was needed. "Really?" she cried in disbelief. "Really? God!" She put her hand to her forehead, thinking of what to do next. "Maybe if I try typing in a name..." She typed in "SIBERIA." No luck. She typed in "RUSSIA." Unsuccessful. She typed in "PLUTONIUM." Wrong again. She even typed in "SECRET." Again, the code was wrong. "Oh, come on!" She thought of another name. "Wait a minute," she said, thinking of one final name. She typed in "SERGEI." Surprisingly, the door unlocked and slid open, revealing a dark hallway. "Awesome!" she cheered.

Regina stepped into the hallway, putting her night-vision goggles on. _Thanks goodness they forgot to search me for my items,_ she thought. She went down some steps and walked a short distance before approaching a safe. Regina read the piece of paper she found earlier and turned the combination lock a few times. The door unlocked, revealing another plutonium rod inside. Regina picked it up and examined it thoroughly, making sure that it wasn't a decoy this time. "Yep, this is definitely real," she declared. "At long last, I've completed my mission!" She took out a thin, opaque case shaped like a rectangular prism, opened it, and gingerly placed the rod inside, closing the case and putting it away.

Regina backtracked all the way to the entrance of the dark hallway and headed towards the elevator, using it to get back to the first floor. When Regina stepped out of the elevator, she noticed that the hallways were deserted. "Did everyone already leave?" she inquired. She went down a corridor and headed for the entrance to the facility, which was her exit. Before she could get there, she spotted Sergei sitting on the floor against the wall, attempting to stand up while holding his left leg. He seemed to be in pain.

Regina stopped next to the large, Russian man and faced him. Sergei's eyes met hers. "What do you want?" he asked her.

"What happened?" Regina asked him, crouching next to him and examining his leg.

"I fell over and hurt myself," he answered. "No big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal," Regina responded. "You're clearly in pain, and you need to evacuate the premises."

"Whatever," Sergei replied. Regina reached out a hand in order to help the man get up, but he refused, pushing her hand away. "Leave me! I can take care of myself!"

"You need help, Sergei," Regina said. "You can't move by yourself."

"I don't need your help!" Sergei stubbornly protested. "I've never needed help before, and I never will! Just go!"

"Not without you," Regina declared. "I can't leave someone behind like this. I just can't."

"I don't care what your values are. Just go away. I'll be fine." Sergei pouted, crossing his arms.

"Look at yourself! The facility is about to explode, and you're as stubborn as a mule, blatantly refusing my help! You can't be serious!"

"I have always been independent, and I plan to keep it that way." Sergei grimaced.

"Sergei, you need to swallow your pride. You can't always refuse help given to you, especially when you really need it."

"What's your point?"

"You shouldn't be afraid to ask for help, and you shouldn't be afraid to accept it, either."

Sergei looked at Regina with curiosity, still wondering why she wouldn't leave him behind. "You must really like helping people," he commented.

"Yes, I do," Regina replied. She took out the large first-aid kit she grabbed earlier and used it to immobilize Sergei's injured leg. After she finished stabilizing the patient, she stuck out her hand to help him up. Sergei looked at her hand. He then realized that if he were to stay any longer, he would be a goner for sure. Sure, this incident would damage his massively inflated ego, but that's much better than being blown to bits and pieces. Anyway, how could he refuse this nice lady's help after the way he treated her earlier? After a few moments of silence and hesitation, Sergei finally grabbed her hand. Regina helped him up to a standing position and put his arm over hers. Sergei told her that there would be a vehicle waiting for them in front of the facility entrance. Regina helped him walk all the way to their destination.

As soon as the pilot saw the two walk past the gate, he started the helicopter engine, and the rotors started moving. Regina and Sergei walked up to the side of the helicopter. Dmitri was sitting inside, sulking. The pilot helped Regina put Sergei into a seat next to Dmitri's seat, strapping him in. The pilot returned to his own seat, and Regina sat in her own seat next to Sergei's seat, strapping herself in.

"Quickly, let's leave!" Sergei commanded the pilot, speaking in Russian. The pilot nodded and made the helicopter ascend. After reaching a certain altitude, the chopper turned away from the facility and flew away.

After three minutes, the nuclear reactors reached a critical level. Within seconds, they blew up, creating a massive explosion that destroyed the facility and the snowy ground it was standing on. Fortunately, everyone that was in the facility evacuated and was safely out of the way of the explosion.

Regina heard the blast behind her. She wanted to turn around and look at it, but common sense told her that she would have lost her eyesight doing that.

Dmitri wasn't so smart, though. He started to turn to look at the spectacle behind him, but Sergei violently pulled him back in the vehicle. "Fool!" he shouted in English. "Do you want to blind yourself?"

Dmitri looked down in shame. "Right," he replied. "My mistake." He then looked at Sergei. "I'm sorry for what happened today, boss."

Sergei gave him a nasty look. "You're 'sorry?'" he repeated.

"Yes...," Dmitri nervously replied, paralyzed by Sergei's stare.

Sergei laughed. "You carelessly put everyone in the building in danger, and you're 'sorry.' I injured my leg, and you're 'sorry.' My facility blew up, and you're 'sorry.'" He laughed again. "Fool, you don't know what 'sorry' is."

"I know I'm a moron who completely screwed up! I'm really, really, _really_ sorry!" He paused, anxiously smiling. "Forgive and forget?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

Sergei drew back his hand in order to hit Dmitri again, but Regina grabbed his arm, stopping him. "No," she said. "Forget it. It's not worth it."

Sergei looked at Regina, puzzled. He retracted his arm. "Did you see the damage he caused?" he asked her, pointing at Dmitri.

"I know. However, I don't think that backhanding him will help the situation. Let this be a lesson to him that being careless has its consequences. I doubt he'll forget this incident." Regina faced Dmitri, giving him a look that said, "You learned your lesson, _right_?"

Dmitri acknowledged her stare and nodded repeatedly, showing that he did indeed learn his lesson.

The helicopter flew for thirty minutes in the cold. It soon arrived at a small, brown, box-shaped building and landed next to it.

"This is my other office," Sergei explained to Regina. "I'll make the necessary arrangements to head home from here. You take the helicopter and head back to your country."

Regina stared at him. "Really?" she asked him. "That's awfully nice of you."

"Well, you did help me avoid a massive explosion. This is the least I can do for you." Sergei smiled at Regina and unbuckled himself from his seat. Regina and Dmitri helped him out of the vehicle. Sergei faced the pilot. "Take her back to..." He paused, looking at Regina. "You are American, correct?"

Regina nodded. She told him the details of her destination. Sergei relayed this information to the pilot, speaking in Russian. "After you drop her off, you may head home. Thank you for your help."

The pilot nodded. "You're welcome, sir," he replied. "I will do the job."

Sergei smiled and turned back to Regina. "And, thank you, Regina, for your help," he stated.

Regina was surprised to hear his gratitude again. "You're very welcome," she replied, grinning, too. Regina stepped into the chopper.

Sergei hopped towards the side of the vehicle, stopping next to Regina. "Regina?" he asked.

"Yes?" Regina answered.

"I know you took that plutonium rod from our facility."

_Shoot!_ Regina anxiously thought. _I was hoping that wouldn't happen!_

Sergei chuckled. "I know what you're thinking," he said, "but don't worry. You can keep the rod. This is my thanks to you. Besides, you seem to need it more than me."

Regina beamed. "Thank you, Sergei."

Sergei nodded. "Good-bye, Miss Regina."

"Good-bye, Sergei."

The chopper flew upwards and away from the area, heading towards North America. When it was out of sight, Sergei opened the door to the building, faced Dmitri, and walked up to him. Dmitri froze again. _I'm in for it now!_ he thought.

Sergei grinned and gingerly placed his right hand on Dmitri's back. Dmitri looked at his hand in surprise, wondering what Sergei was going to do. Sergei hesitated and forcefully pushed Dmitri into the building. Dmitri tripped inside, landing on his back this time. "Ow!" he shouted.

"In you go, fool," Sergei stated, walking into the building. "Boy, do I have a lot to say to you!" He laughed an evil laugh.

Dmitri gulped as Sergei closed the door. He nearly wet his pants.

Back in the helicopter, Regina was delighted that she finally collected all three items needed to run the Timegate. _Finally!_ she thought, as the helicopter left Siberia. _After going through so much freaking trouble, I can now save Dylan and Paula! Cretaceous Era, here I come!_


	15. Um, What Just Happened?

"That's really what happened?" Sean asked, listening to the details of Regina's adventure in Siberia. Everyone was in the researchers' room at this time.

"Yes, I swear!" Regina replied, as he finished telling Sean her latest story.

"Interesting. That must have been really scary."

"You have _no_ idea."

"Well, the important thing is that you're safe."

"And that you have completed your mission," Mark added. "Now, please hand us the plutonium rod."

Regina turned to Mark, her face masked with disbelief. "Are you always this blunt?" she asked.

"I just want to get this over with," Mark responded, folding his arms.

Regina sighed. "Very well. You may have it." Regina took out the opaque case containing the radioactive material and handed it to Mark.

Mark opened the case, looking at the rod inside. "Finally," he stated. "We have all three items. Now we can complete our task."

"And, the Timegate is almost complete," Sean said.

"Really?" Regina asked, facing Sean.

"Yes, but it's not here. It's in our other laboratory, located just outside of town."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Mark asked. "Let's go!" He walked out of the room in a hurry.

"Oh, Mark," David commented. "You were never one for patience."

"The guy can't even wait for _one second_," Paul joked.

"Forget Mark," John said. "Let's leave."

"After you," Rick said, addressing Regina.

"Thank you," Regina happily replied. After Regina walked out of the room, the rest followed suit.

–

Sean had a van waiting outside in front of the research facility. "All right," he said, "get in, everyone."

Everyone boarded the 7-seat vehicle. Sean sat in the driver seat. John made sure he got a seat next to Regina. Mark sat in the front passenger seat, not wanting to sit next to anyone else. When everyone was buckled in, Sean started the vehicle and drove away from the facility, heading to the other laboratory.

Thirty minutes passed. Soon, the vehicle arrived in front of a large, brown building, flanked by trees. It parked next to the curb on the street. "Here we are!" Sean stated.

Everyone got out of the van and stood on the sidewalk, facing the large building.

"This is your laboratory?" Regina asked the researchers.

They nodded.

"I can't wait to see what's inside," Rick stated.

"Let's go in," John replied.

Everyone walked towards the building. Sean unlocked the front door and went inside, motioning everyone to follow him. It was dark inside the building, so Sean walked up to a nearby wall and turned the lights on.

Large, bright lights illuminated the place, revealing a large room with a brown floor and a blue raised platform against the wall opposing the front door of the building. There were two doors on the walls adjacent to the wall with the platform, one on each wall. Regina and Rick looked around and were quite impressed at what they saw. There were many objects, trinkets, and gadgets hooked onto the walls. Larger units of technology were on the floor, stationed against the walls. On the platform, a large, white, metal, ring-shaped object stood up against a wall, facing the gang.

"This place is amazing!" Regina commented, looking at all of the contraptions in the area. She spotted the ring-shaped object on the platform. "The Timegate!" she exclaimed, running up to it. She mounted the platform and inspected the device. "I can't believe it!" She tried to contain herself, giddy over the fact that within minutes, she would be capable of saving Dylan and Paula.

"I'm glad you're happy," Sean stated. "It took us quite some time to build this thing. Adding the hardware upgrade wasn't so easy, either. However, adding the plutonium rod was not very hard."

"But, now, we are done," Mark said, smiling for once. "Sean, if you please." He pointed at the Timegate.

"Certainly. But, first, I want you all to stand there." He pointed to the center of the brown floor. A layer of tape surrounded it, forming a box. "The view of the invention will be much better there."

Everyone moved to the center of the floor.

"Perfect," Sean said. He moved towards the Timegate, stopping next to it. He went to one side of the contraption and opened a panel, containing a red button inside. "Behold!" Sean pushed the button. Regina was very excited for this moment.

A few seconds passed, but the Timegate did not operate. Everyone except Sean was puzzled.

"Um," Regina spoke up, addressing Sean, "what's going on? Nothing happened."

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from above. Everyone looked up. Parts of the section of the ceiling above the gang slid open, revealing a large hole. A large metal cage fell from the hole and landed on Regina, Paul, John, David, Mark, and Rick, imprisoning them. The section of the floor they were standing on changed color from brown to dark gray.

"Whoa!" Paul exclaimed.

"What's this!?" Mark shouted.

"What's happening?" David asked, frightened.

Regina, Rick, and John looked at Sean, wondering where this cage came from.

"Sean," John said, "what did you do?"

At this point, Sean was smirking and laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Rick questioned him.

"Because I'm not really Sean." The scientist grabbed his facial skin and pulled it away from his head. Another face with different-colored hair was uncovered, with a mask in the owner's hand.

Regina was shocked to see the unmasking of the man on the platform. "Who are you!?" she demanded.

The unmasked man spoke. "My name is Brett," he said. "As you can see, you have all fallen into a trap, and I have you right where I want you."

Rick pounded the wall of the cage in anger. "Why are you doing this?"

Brett spoke again, "About that... There's someone I want you to meet." He gestured to his left. There was a dark hallway in the left wall. Everyone heard sounds of footsteps. A Caucasian man with blond hair in a lab coat emerged from the hallway and stepped towards the platform. Everyone stared at him in awe with wide eyes and opened mouths.

The Caucasian man looked at the prisoners, wearing a disturbingly evil smile. "Hello," he greeted. "Surprised to see me?"

"Dr. Kirk!?" the prisoners questioned.

"The one and only," Dr. Kirk answered. "It's so nice to see my old enemies, as well as the people who took over my research!"

"Why the frick are you here, and how the heck did you escape your prison!?" Regina demanded, angry.

Dr. Kirk laughed at Regina's anger.

"I want an answer now!" Regina shouted.

"Oh, Regina," he responded, smirking. "You haven't changed a bit since our last encounter a year ago."

"Just answer the dang question!"

"I rest my case. However, I'll go ahead and humor you. As you already know, it all started after the Third Energy incident."

"Oh, yeah," Paul interrupted. "How did you escape that explosion? We've all been puzzled about it for some time."

"You don't need to know!" Dr. Kirk snapped. "Don't interrupt me while I tell my story!"

"Someone's grumpy," Paul commented, smirking.

"Anyway," Dr. Kirk continued, ignoring Paul's joke, "I escaped but was soon captured weeks later, despite my efforts of avoiding the government's watchful eyes. After being thrown in the slammer, I met someone quite interesting." Dr. Kirk pointed to Brett.

Brett nodded and smiled.

Dr. Kirk resumed his story. "Brett and I met in the prison I was in. We became fast friends, as we had similar desires and goals, which included manipulating people to get what we want. Consequently, we agreed to work together to escape our prison. I secretly built a device out of materials from the prison. It was designed to make people forget things. When they released us from our cells for lunch, I used it on the officers in the camp to make them forget our existence. While I was at it, I erased our names from the prison's criminal database. We then inconspicuously left the facility and came to North America. While trying to find a place to stay for free, we found this big, brown, empty building and made it into our headquarters.

"After a year of living in the U.S., I found out that the government gave five researchers access to my research. These people were not far from our place, so Brett and I then made another plan: tricking you all into getting the items we wanted, as well as stopping your 3rd Energy research once and for all.

"Brett sneaked into your research facility and took a good picture of your co-worker: Sean. Brett came back and gave me the picture. I proceeded to make a mask that perfectly resembled Sean's head. I placed it on Brett, so he could play the role of your friend. He went back into the research facility, secretly kidnapped Sean, and brought him to our headquarters. I imprisoned him under this building, and Brett went back to the research facility.

"Brett played the role of Sean beautifully, portraying a technological genius. He pretended that the government gave him special orders regarding the building of a Timegate to relay to his team, i.e., you researchers. This made sense because Sean was the smartest of the group, so he would pretty much be its leader whom everyone trusted. Anyway, the instructions were the obtainment of three items: the blueprints to the Timegate, the hardware upgrade, and the plutonium rod. Brett and I were hoping that you all would get the items as quickly as possible, but you all proved to be generally useless...until Regina came along.

"Regina coming into the facility was a bonus. Her appearance and her 'mission' were quite coincidental and fortunate for us. Brett tricked Regina into collecting all three sought items. The woman did her job perfectly, giving us what we wanted.

"While Regina was out item-hunting, Brett and the researchers built the Timegate while I turned our headquarters into a second laboratory. After building most of the Timegate, Brett told the others that he made another laboratory, stating that the Timegate can be moved there since the main laboratory was a bit small for it. The others agreed and arranged for the contraption to be moved to the other building.

"When Regina came back into the research facility with the plutonium rod, Brett stated that the Timegate was in other laboratory. Everyone headed there, and...you already know the rest."

Regina listened intently to Dr. Kirk's monologue. It all made sense to her. "Sean's" negligence of taking the necessary precautions for Regina to safely and inconspicuously infiltrate all three bases with the items inside, his mistakes with the technological terms "hardware" and "software," and his failure to give proper instructions for landing the hang glider he gave her were inconsistencies with Brett's role playing of a technological genius. She saw through his ruse, but it was too late. "I knew it," she spoke up, addressing Brett. "I knew something was wrong! A _real_ technological genius wouldn't be careless with infiltration plans, mix up technological terms, or fail to give proper instructions on how to use one of his gadgets! You weren't who we thought you were at all!"

Brett smirked. "Excellent observations, Regina," he remarked, "but it's a little late for that! It wouldn't have mattered, anyway, seeing as how we've successfully trapped you nonetheless."

Rick had his own epiphany to share with everyone, too. "I knew that we didn't even need to collect all three items."

"Another excellent observation," Dr. Kirk replied. "You actually didn't need to collect those items. In fact, the 3rd Energy Data Disk already had the blueprints to the Timegate in it. Also, the government gave Brett access to their source of 3rd Energy, which you could have used to power the Timegate. However, as we planned, he kept it a secret from all of you, so you would still do our bidding for no good reason." Dr. Kirk laughed. "Man, can I plan or what?"

Everyone in the cage was disgusted with Dr. Kirk's attitude, almost to the point of throwing up. Watching a criminal mastermind being successful with his evil plan was too much for them to bear.

David had a question to ask Dr. Kirk. "Um, excuse me?" he asked. "Dr. Kirk? There's just one question I have for you. Why did you need the three items in the first place?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Dr. Kirk answered, grinning. He walked to his left and stepped off the platform. He turned to face the wall to his left and pressed a hidden button on the wall. "Observe!" he shouted to everyone.

The section of the wall behind the Timegate became two large doors, which slid open. Behind the doors was a hidden area, containing a large, rectangular, metal contraption. This device had a big, rectangular screen with many flashing buttons arranged in rows below it. A large satellite dish was on top of the invention.

Everyone stared at the machine. "What is it?" David asked Dr. Kirk.

"It's my greatest invention yet!" Dr. Kirk replied. "This machine is capable of mind control. It allows the user to wipe the minds of large groups of people, enabling him or her to create a large army of people who will do whatever he or she demands! It's all part of my other plan: to take over the world!"

"You're crazy!" David said.

"Whatever!" Dr. Kirk responded.

"Why would you want to do this?" John asked the mad scientist. "I thought you were obsessed with your research."

"I was," Dr. Kirk said, "but after the incident and the jail time I went through, I lost interest in my research and became obsessed with power and revenge on those who wronged me, and now, I have both!"

"Wait," David said. "You needed blueprints, an upgrade, and radioactive material for this invention. I still don't understand why."

"Actually, I didn't need any of them. They were only distractions. I wanted the hardware upgrade and the radioactive material for other inventions I had planned on building. As for my confiscated blueprints to the Timegate, if I can't have them, then _no one_ else can! They're mine, and only I can use them!"

"Selfish, selfish, selfish," Paul commented. "Didn't anyone teach you to share?"

"Shut up!" Dr. Kirk commanded.

"You vile fiend!" John shouted. "How can you do something like this?"

"Do the words 'mad scientist' mean _anything_ to you?" Dr. Kirk condescendingly stated.

"Screw you!" Mark exclaimed.

During this bantering, Regina realized that the crazy scientist was standing in the way between her and the rescue of Dylan, Paula, and the 1000 survivors of the Cretaceous Era. She was hindered from completing her goal..._again_. She became laden with massive amounts of fury. "You sick, evil person!" she screamed at Dr. Kirk.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" Dr. Kirk joked. "Didn't mean to upset you, little girl."

Regina took out her pistol and opened fire on Dr. Kirk. The bullets traveled straight towards the scientist's body. When they neared Dr. Kirk, a wall of multicolored energy entered their path. The bullets bounced of the wall, going down like flies. The wall shortly disappeared afterwards.

"What the heck!?" Regina shouted in disbelief, seeing that her bullets did not hit Dr. Kirk.

"It's a force field," Rick spoke up.

"What?" Regina turned to face Rick.

"It's a force field. Your bullets hit a force field."

"Correct!" Dr. Kirk said, grinning. He pointed to a band on his left wrist. "This little device protects me from projectiles of any weapon." Brett revealed that he was wearing one, too.

"Shoot!" Regina loudly swore.

Dr. Kirk couldn't help laughing. Brett spoke to him. "These people are of no use to us anymore. What should we do with them?"

"Normally, I would dispose of them, but I feel like letting them suffer in their cage a little while longer. Take them away!"

Brett walked to the other side of the Timegate and opened a panel on it, revealing another button. He pressed it. The section of the floor under the cage slowly sank, taking the prisoners underground. The newly created hole in the floor was quickly covered.

Down below, the cage continued to descend through the ground until it stopped after twenty seconds. All of a sudden, the bottom of the cage opened, and everyone fell down, landing on the floor of a ceiling-less room a few feet below. The bottom of the cage closed, and the cage slowly rose back up. A large wall appeared out of nowhere, sliding over the room and forming the ceiling.

Everyone was in an uncomfortable, painful position upon landing in the new room. The prisoners recovered and looked around. The room had three light-brown, solid walls and a fourth metal wall. On the metal wall was a large light-gray door, which had a little window and a keyhole. Regina, Rick, and the researchers were in a weird-looking cell with no apparent way out.


	16. The Blame Game

Sean was sitting on the floor against the wall with his arms crossed in his cell, wearing his lab coat. He was still upset over his kidnapping. _How could that jerk Dr. Kirk do this?_ he wondered.

Sean pounded the wall in anger, not just because Dr. Kirk and his assistant kidnapped him but also because he had been stuck in this room for three days. _No one even knows I'm here because of that guy Brett! How dare he impersonate me! And, my co-workers don't even know they've fallen into a trap..._

Sean looked around for an exit, but he failed to find one...again. He even tried to make exits by attempting to dig through the wall and the floor of the cell, but that didn't work either. _Grr! Can I ever get out?_

Sean held his stomach and grimaced. _The food they gave me wasn't even decent at all!_

Sean tried to think of another way out of his prison, but he had no ideas left. "Darn it!" he swore. "I am a man of very high intelligence! I have to think of a way out of here! I have to think of something! Anything!" He looked all over the room again but found nothing pertinent to his escape. He became angrier than before. "I refuse to stay here any longer! I must leave now! I hate this place!"

Sean tried to think again. He checked his pants pockets. Nothing. He then remembered that he had something in his shirt pocket. He reached into it and found a paper clip._ I can use this...,_ he thought. He turned to the keyhole on the locked door of the cell. He walked up to the keyhole, crouched, and stuck the paper clip in the hole. _Let's see if I still remember how to do this..._ He moved the metal clip around in the keyhole a few times. After several seconds, the paper clip stopped moving. _Did I unlock the door?_ Sean withdrew the paper clip, stood up, and tried to open the door. It didn't budge. _What? But, how can that be?_

Sean looked at his paper clip. One end was badly bent and twisted. "What the heck?" he said. "Darn it!" Sean crouched back down, put the other end of the paper clip in the keyhole, and tried using it again. After several more seconds, Sean heard the door unlock. _Did I do it?_ he wondered. He got up and attempted to open the door again. It opened, much to his surprise. Sean cheered. "I can't believe that actually worked!" he happily remarked.

Sean stepped out of his cell and found himself in a gray hallway, lined with several doors to other cells. On his right was a dead end. On his left was the rest of this hallway, leading to a perpendicular one. Sean went to his left and walked down the hallway.

–

Regina, Mark, Rick, John, Paul, and David all quietly sat against the wall, frustrated that their plans were ruined. Regina and Mark were the most annoyed out of the whole group. All Regina wanted to do was save her friend Dylan from being blown to bits by a self-destructing facility in the past, and all Mark wanted to do was finish his job. Now, neither of those things may happen.

Regina put her face in her hands, almost to the point of crying. Dr. Kirk tricked them all. He used their personalities against them and quite cleverly. Mark's impatience, Paul's laid-back attitude, John's approval of kept promises, David's politeness, and Regina's determination were all used to Dr. Kirk's advantage, and the whole team never saw it coming.

Mark spoke up. "I can't believe this. I just can't believe this."

John was sitting next to Mark, listening to what he said. He put his hand on Mark's left shoulder, attempting to console him. "It's not your fault, Mark."

"It's not that," Mark replied. "I just can't believe what happened. We were so close, and now, we're so far! I can't believe this!"

"Well, believe it," Paul remarked, "because there's not we can do about it." For once, his voice was not in its usual humorous tone.

Mark stood up. "There would have been much we could have done about it...if it wasn't for Regina."

At the sound of that accusatory statement, Regina slowly lifted her head and looked at Mark, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

Mark folded his arms. "I'm saying that we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, Regina."

Regina folded her own arms. "And, what do you mean by that?"

Mark got slightly more annoyed. "It's all your fault."

Regina squinted her eyes at Mark. She opened her mouth to speak, but Mark cut her off.

"If it wasn't for you mindlessly collecting all of those items for Brett, we wouldn't even be here right now!" he declared.

Regina became just as annoyed at Mark. "Excuse me," she started, "but weren't _you_ the one who said, 'We are going with Sean's plan, whether you like it or not!' to Rick?"

"I didn't know Sean wasn't actually Sean!" Mark protested.

"And, neither did I nor anyone else in this room," Regina retorted.

"At least I didn't do Dr. Kirk's shopping!"

"At least I didn't mindlessly agree to the plan, without bothering to evaluate it first! At least Rick and I had doubts of the plan! In fact, out of the whole group, _you_ were the one who was _most_ devoted to stealing the three items in order to finish building the Timegate. So if I were you, I wouldn't accuse others of being careless when you're guilty of the same dang thing!"

Mark was really steamed now. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!"

"The feeling's mutual," Regina retorted.

"You have been nothing but a hindrance to our plans!"

"I'm pretty sure everything that's happened in the last few days as well as the points I've just made flew right over your narrow-minded head, so it's useless trying to reason with you any longer."

Rick stood up and walked up to Regina and Mark. "Come on, guys," he said, attempting to defuse the heated conversation between them. "We're all at fault here. There's no need to shout at each other."

"Shut up!" Mark shouted at Rick, apparently wanting him not to get involved in the conversation.

Rick suddenly forgot about his plan and became irritated at Mark. "Don't tell me to shut up!"

"I'll say whatever I want to say!"

"Not in my face, you freaking won't, you jerk!"

"Listen, you-"

At this point, Paul, John, and David got tired of Mark's extremely unpleasant behavior.

"That's enough, Mark!" Paul interrupted Mark, becoming even more serious than before.

"What the heck is your problem?" John angrily asked Mark.

"My problem is all of you!" Mark replied, getting more defensive than ever. "You all have been almost useless in doing our task!"

"Why are you such a jerk to everyone?" David asked Mark. "Have you no decency?"

"All right," Mark said, walking up to David. "Listen you-"

"No, _you_ listen!" David shouted, pushing Mark back a few feet. "I and everyone else in this room have had it up to here with your horrible behavior! If you can't learn to treat people with decency or common courtesy instead of being a flat-out jerk, so help me, I will kick your butt! Now sit your classless behind down before I slap some _freaking_ sense into you!"

After being pushed by David and hearing him uncharacteristically go off on a rant, Mark suddenly realized how horrible he was. He finally understood the fact that he had been a jerk to everyone during this whole ordeal, and all it took was a dose of reality from someone who was least likely to swear to anyone. Mark sat back down on the floor, immensely feeling sorry for himself.

Everyone looked at Mark and then David.

"Wow," Paul said to David. "I'm...surprised, David."

David looked to Sean, grinned, and folded his arms. "I got tired of his nasty temperament. If someone's going to be a rude, intolerant person, I'm going to put that person in his or her place."

Suddenly, a sound of a door being unlocked resonated through the room. Everyone turned to the door. Within seconds, the door opened, revealing a young, blonde, male scientist behind it.

–

Sean navigated the various gray hallways in Dr. Kirk's jail underground to find his way out. He ended up getting lost. "Darn it!" he swore. "What is this, a maze? Dr. Kirk doesn't need to imprison this many people, especially for his plans!" Sean stopped walking and thought of where to go next. All of a sudden, he starting hearing distant shouting and yelling. "What's that noise?" he wondered.

Sean decided to go investigate the noise. He ran towards the noise, traversing several hallways until he came to a door marking a dead end. Sean walked up to the door and pressed his ear against it. He heard more shouting and yelling from within the room behind the door. _There must be people in there,_ he thought. _I might as well rescue them, too. No one deserves to be imprisoned by Dr. Kirk, anyway._ He took his ear off the wall, crouched down, and put his paper clip in the keyhole. He unlocked the door, stood up, and opened it. The eyes of six people greeted him upon his entrance.

–

"Did I miss something here?" the young scientist asked everyone in the cell.

"Sean!" David said. "You're all right!"

"Yes," Sean replied, "but why wouldn't I be? All Dr. Kirk did was lock me up."

"I feared we would do much worse than that," David said.

"How did you escape from your cell?" John asked.

"A paper clip," Sean answered, holding his up for everyone to see. "I used it as a key. Finding a way out was admittedly difficult, though. Anyway, what are you guys doing here?" He looked at Regina and Rick. "And, who are they?"

Regina walked up to Sean. "We'll explain everything later," she stated. "Right now, we need to leave and stop Dr. Kirk."

"All right," Sean said. "However, I can't find my way out of here. It's like a maze down here!"

Rick had an idea. "Don't worry," he said. "I have an answer to our problem." He reached into his pocket and took out a device whose appearance was similar to a PDA. He walked out of the room and turned it on.

"What is it?" Paul asked Rick, walking out of the room as well.

"It's a radar scanner," Rick explained. "It allows me to scan the area around the device, and it displays a map on the screen afterwards."

"Nice!" Paul commented. "We should be able to find our way out of this area easily with that thing."

Regina, John, Sean, and David stepped out of the room and looked at Rick's device. The device started beeping. A radar was shown on screen, and it scanned for a minute. Then, the radar disappeared, and a fuzzy image appeared on the screen, becoming sharper and clearer. The image became completely clear, showing a map of the underground area.

"All right," Rick said. "I've got a map. Now, let's see here..." He examined the map. "We should go down this hallway first." He pointed to the hallway in front of the jail cell.

"All right," Sean said. "Let's get moving."

Everyone started walking down the hallway. Sean noticed someone was missing and turned around. He saw Mark still in the cell, sitting down and apparently sulking. Sean walked up to Mark. "Mark," he said, "What's wrong?"

Mark heard Sean's voice and looked up. "Huh?" he said. "Oh, it's nothing. Forget it."

Sean didn't seem too sure of what Mark said. "Are you sure?" he asked him.

Mark nodded. "Yes," he replied, trying to hide his sadness.

"Well, okay." Sean motioned for Mark to follow everyone else down the hallway. "Come on. Let's leave."

Mark got up, walked out of the room, and went with Sean to go catch up with the group.

–

The gang walked through several hallways underground, under the guidance of Rick's mapping device. They eventually came to the end of a corridor. A silver door with a little window stood in front of them.

"We have to go through here next," Rick stated. He walked up to the door and looked through the window. "Hey! There are stairs behind this door. These must be our way back to the ground floor!"

"Let's go," Regina said.

Rick opened the door and went up the stairs, followed by the rest of the gang. After a flight of stairs, they all reached another gray door with a window. Rick looked into the window. "I can't see anything," he said. "It's too dark inside."

"Let's go in," Regina said.

Rick opened the door, and everyone entered the room. Rick looked for a light switch and found one on a nearby wall. He flicked it on. The lights came on, illuminating a large laboratory filled with tables on which various inventions were placed. Desks and tables with chemistry items on them lined the walls of the room. A large TV screen was on the wall, opposing the door the gang came in through.

"This place is amazing!" Sean commented. "It's even better than our laboratory!"

"Sorry, Sean," David replied, "but we have no time to enjoy the scenery. We need to find a way back to the main room of this building."

"Right," Sean replied.

Everyone walked around the room, looking for an exit. John passed a table and noticed an object sitting on it, appearing to be a watch. He walked back to the table and picked up the object. "What's this?" he wondered, examining it. He found that it was a time travel watch. It had a screen with buttons that let the user pick the exact date, time, and location of his or her destination in time. John admired the gadget and thought it might be of use to him, so he put it on his left wrist and walked away from the table, continuing his search for an exit out of the lab.

Regina found a gadget shaped like a gun on a nearby table. "I wonder what this does," she said. She put the gun away in her inventory for later use and continued her search.

Sean passed some tables and found Mark in the corner, sulking again. He knew that something was definitely wrong with Mark. He walked up to Mark and spoke to him. "Mark, I know something's up with you. What's wrong?"

Mark sighed and looked at Sean. "I'm not sure I should tell you," he responded.

"Why?" Sean inquired.

"You may not like it. Plus, I feel really bad because of it."

"Don't worry about me. I can handle hearing the story, Mark. After all, you all told me about the plan you guys attempted to complete. _That_ story was wacky." Sean smiled.

"Well..., okay." Mark proceeded to tell Sean about his bad attitude during the gang's mission and about the incident with the others in the jail cell.

Sean listened intently to Mark's words. "I see," he said. "So, that's what happened."

"And, it's killing me inside!" Mark added. "I've been such a jerk! How could I do that?"

"You feel remorse for your actions, right?"

"Yes."

"And, you want to change your ways, right?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

"But, I still feel rotten inside."

"Then, you need to apologize to everyone whom you've hurt."

"Really? I'm not sure I should do that. They already despise me."

"I'm sure they would be willing to listen to an apology from you."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Sean put his right hand on Mark's left shoulder and smiled.

Mark looked at Sean. He then nodded and walked around Sean towards the center of the room. He spoke up in a loud and clear voice. "Everyone?" he said, addressing Rick, Regina, Paul, John, and David. "I have something to say."

Regina, Rick, David, Paul, and John looked at Mark.

"What is it?" David asked Mark.

"I...want...to...apologize for my behavior and actions lately."

Everyone except Sean looked at him in surprise.

"I know I was a big jerk back there, and I'm sorry. I just wanted to finish the job given to me by the government, but I let that get to my head, and look what happened. I've never been one for manners, as I get very frustrated when I can't finish tasks, especially in a quick fashion, and I..." He paused, looking down and drooping his head in shame. "...I took it out on you guys. I feel really bad, and I'm really sorry."

The room was silent for a moment. Mark wondered why there wasn't an answer from anyone. He looked up and found a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the owner of the hand and found it was Regina's. Her face had a smile on it. Mark looked past Regina and found the others standing behind her, grinning.

"Mark," Regina said. "We accept your apology."

"You do?" Mark said in surprise. "After everything I've said to you guys, you still forgive me?"

"Well, we knew you had issues," John stated.

"Besides," David said, adding, "you are still our teammate, no matter how irritating you are."

Everyone laughed at David's comment, including Mark.

"All right," Mark said. "Now that that's out of the way, let's go and finish this whole thing once and for all!"

Rick found the exit of the laboratory on the same wall as the TV screen. It was a brown door, hidden behind a large cupboard. He could hear Dr. Kirk's and Brett's voices through the door. "Hey!" he said. "I think I found the way out of here!"

Everyone turned to Rick. He motioned Paul to come help him move the cupboard out of the way. When that was done, the exit was completely visible.

"Well, here we go," Sean said. "Ready, everyone?"

Everyone else nodded. Rick and Regina readied their weapons. Rick opened the door and walked outside of the laboratory. Everyone followed him into the main room of the large building.


	17. The Confrontation

"That was top-notch acting, Brett," Dr. Kirk complimented Brett.

"Why, thank you, Dr. Kirk," Brett replied. "And, your plan was brilliant! Those fools didn't even know what hit them!"

"Thanks, I know," Dr. Kirk said. "I've clearly outdone myself this time. Now, nothing will stop us from getting what we want: world domination!"

Brett nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there was the sound of a door being opened. Dr. Kirk and Brett turned towards the noise and found their prisoners looking at them, apparently free from their jail cell.

Dr. Kirk was surprised and outraged. "Huh!?" he shouted. "What is this!?"

"Hey, Dr. Kirk!" Regina greeted him, twirling her pistol. "How have you been?"

"You? How did you get out of your cell?"

"You don't need to know!" Mark answered.

"You do, however, have no way of escaping from us, so I suggest you surrender this instant," Regina declared, pointing her weapon at Dr. Kirk.

"Fools!" Dr. Kirk exclaimed. "You'll never capture a genius like me!"

"I don't know about that," Rick said, pointing his own gun at Brett.

"You won't capture us! We'll take you down again!"

Regina pulled out the gun she stole from Dr. Kirk's lab, pointed it at Brett, and fired it. A wad of a blue, mushy substance came out of the gun, traveled at a high velocity towards Brett, and hit him. Brett was launched towards a nearby wall, with the blue substance still stuck to him. When he landed on the wall, the blue stuff grew, hardened, and stretched across the entire area of his body below his head, effectively sticking him to the wall.

"What the heck!?" Brett exclaimed, trying to wriggle free. "What is this stuff?"

Regina looked at the gun she just used. "Ah, so that's what this thing does!"

Dr. Kirk noticed that Regina was in possession of one of his inventions. "How did you get your hands on that?"

"I raided your lab," Regina answered. She pointed her new toy at Dr. Kirk. "Now, it's your turn."

"I refuse to be captured!" the egocentric genius declared.

"We'll see about that," Regina replied. Dr. Kirk ran towards the door on the wall to his right. Unfortunately for him, Sean was guarding it. Dr. Kirk ran towards the front door of the building but found that Paul and Mark were guarding it. He ran towards the door to his laboratory, but John and David stood in front of it, blocking his way. Dr. Kirk slowly backed up. Regina and Rick walked towards him, their weapons drawn.

"Well, Kirk," Rick said. "It seems you have nowhere to go."

"Indeed," Regina said. "Now to finish this." Regina aimed her lab gun at Dr. Kirk and fired. The mad scientist ducked out of the way. The blue goo landed on the wall on the other side of the room, nearly hitting Sean, who ducked to avoid being hit. Dr. Kirk pulled out a pistol and fired at Regina and Rick. The two soldiers moved out of the way and fired at Dr. Kirk. Their bullets had no effect on him, thanks to the force field of the wristband he was wearing.

"Fools!" Dr. Kirk exclaimed. "You can't shoot me!" He pulled out his pistol and fired at Regina and Rick.

Regina ducked to her right, Rick ducked to his left, and David and John ducked to avoid being shot. The bullets went the lab door, leaving holes behind.

"Darn it!" Regina shouted in frustration. "How can we get him?"

"We need to remove that device he's wearing," Rick replied.

"How?" Regina asked.

"One of us will have to distract him while the other moves in to grab the wristband," Rick clarified.

"Okay. You distract him, and I'll move in for the kill."

"All right. Let's do this."

Regina and Rick stood up. Dr. Kirk pivoted to his right and fired at Rick. Rick ducked to his right. Regina mounted the platform and ran across it. Dr. Kirk turned to his left and fired several shots at Regina. Regina performed a dive roll off the platform with a line of bullets following her.

"Hey, Kirk!" Rick shouted, waving his arms. "Over here!"

Dr. Kirk turned around and faced Rick. "You!" he said. Dr. Kirk fired a few shots at Rick. Rick jumped out of the way.

Regina got up and stood several feet behind Dr. Kirk, waiting for her moment to grab the wristband. Rick was still busy dodging bullets. She walked slowly and quietly towards Dr. Kirk.

_Come on, Regina!_ Rick nervously thought, as he continued to dodge bullets. _Get him already!_

When Regina was close enough to Dr. Kirk, she squatted and executed a sweeping kick on Dr. Kirk's legs. He fell down to the ground, landing on his back and dropping his weapon. Regina then went for Dr. Kirk's wristband. The two wrestled, tumbled, and pulled for a minute before Regina finally managed to take the wristband off Dr. Kirk's wrist.

"Yes!" Regina cheered, flaunting the wristband in Dr. Kirk's face. "I got it! Now, you're powerless!"

Dr. Kirk was angry, but he had another trick up his sleeve. He quickly got up and ran for his gun. He pointed it at the front door and fired a few shots. Paul and Mark ducked out of the way, and the bullets went through the door again. Dr. Kirk ran for the exit, passing Paul and Mark when he reached the door.

"After him!" Rick shouted.

Regina dropped the wristband, readied her pistol, and ran after Dr. Kirk.

Dr. Kirk was nearing the vehicle used to get to this building. He was just about to reach it until someone stood in front of him, blocking his path. Dr. Kirk stopped in his tracks and looked at the person in front of him. He was a tall, white, muscular man with a buzz haircut, wearing a uniform belonging to that of a soldier. Dr. Kirk couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw. "You!?" he asked in surprise.

Regina stepped out of the doorway and saw the soldier standing in front of Dr. Kirk. She was delighted to see him. "Gail!" she happily called out to the soldier. "Perfect timing!"


	18. Getting Ready to Go Back in Time

Gail was Regina's and Rick's comrade during their mission of capturing Dr. Kirk in Ibis Island a year ago. He was the leader of the group, who often argued with Rick on team decisions, forcing Regina to pick which decision to go along with. Gail's belief that completing the mission was more important than the team's well-being directly opposed Rick's belief that the well-being of the team was more important than the mission.

Gail did not move when he heard Regina call out to him. His eyes remained fixated on Dr. Kirk. "All right, Kirk," he said, highly suspicious. "I want to know what you're up to, and I want to know _now_."

Dr. Kirk wasn't one to easily give in to demands. "I'm not telling you _anything_, agent."

Gail had a special way of coercing Dr. Kirk into doing what he wanted, and that was pointing a gun at him. He did just that.

Dr. Kirk didn't want to get shot, so he spilled the beans. "All right, I'll tell you," he answered. Dr. Kirk told Gail of his recent master plan involving trickery, manipulation, and kidnapping. During this time, everyone in the brown building came out and listened to Dr. Kirk tell his story.

Gail listened intently to the story. When Dr. Kirk finished, he spoke. "All right, then." He walked up to Dr. Kirk, turned him to face the other direction, handcuffed him, and pushed him forward. "Into the building you go, _criminal_."

Dr. Kirk went back into the building, followed by Gail and the others. He stopped near the blue platform. Gail looked around the room and saw Dr. Kirk's assistant Brett on the wall to his left, still struggling to get free.

Regina spoke to Gail. "Gail, not be rude, but what are you doing here?"

Gail faced Regina. "I came here because I noticed that you weren't at work and that you were frequently absent around town. Normally, I wouldn't worry about your personal business, but the fact that your perfect attendance record at work was suddenly ruined incited me to investigate. I discovered today that you were always around that research facility. I went inside and overheard your conversation on your plan of going outside of town to a certain building to finish building the Timegate. I waited for you to leave before I headed for your destination. I had no car, or any money with me for a bus or taxi, so I had to run all the way here, which took some time. When I finally got here, I saw Dr. Kirk leave the building, so I went and stopped him."

"Perfect timing as always, Gail," Regina said, smiling.

His face became filled with disappointment. "Regina," he said, "I can't believe you would go and do these things. Do you realize what you've done?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Regina said, "but I had to do it."

"Why is this soldier 'Dylan' so important to you?"

"He was a good soldier with a terrible life. He was my comrade during our mission back in time; I couldn't just leave him behind in time after all we've been through! Plus, he has a daughter. How could I break up or leave behind a family?"

Gail, unfortunately, wasn't one for pathos. "You put your whole job on the line and committed various criminal acts just to do a personal mission. Do you have any idea how irresponsible that is?"

Regina sighed. "I know. But, my mission was to save any remaining survivors I could find. I found one, and I had to save her. I was only following orders. Plus, Dylan and Paula would both be useful when we go back in time again to save the rest of the survivors...if we save those two first. Dylan can help us on our mission again, and Paula can communicate with the survivors and the dinosaurs for us, since neither can talk, and she has lived with them for a while to know how to interact with them."

Gail fell silent. After several moments, he said, "Well, there's not much I can do about it since there's no reason in stopping you from doing your mission. And, it's not as if you did it for no reason."

Regina beamed.

Gail mounted the platform and went up to the Timegate. "So, this thing is supposed to send us back into time, right?"

Regina stood next to him. "Yes," she answered.

"All right," Mark said, walking up to the Timegate. "Let's go back in time and save those survivors."

"If we're going to go back in time, those prisoners need to be watched over," Gail warned the others, referring to Dr. Kirk and Brett.

"I'll stay behind," David offered.

"Me, too," Paul said.

"I'll also stay behind," Mark stated.

"All right, then," John said. "The rest of us will go. Sean, start up that Timegate."

Sean was examining the Timegate during the previous conversation, figuring out how to work it. When John spoke to him, he looked at the gauge of the 3rd energy tank for the Timegate. "There isn't much 3rd energy left to use in this thing," he stated. "Dr. Kirk must have used most of it for something else. We can't go back in time for very long."

"Then, we have to hurry and do this before the fuel runs out," Regina replied. "Later, we can go back to the government and ask for more 3rd energy when we use the Timegate again to go back in time to save the survivors."

Sean became nervous. "Are you sure we should do this?" he questioned Regina.

"Yes. It will benefit us all. I swear it."

"...Okay. Set the time to the date of the incident in which Dylan and Paula are waiting for you to save them, Regina."

Regina walked towards the Timegate. Sean showed her the location of a panel on the contraption with five sets of buttons that allowed her to pick what moment in time she wanted to travel to: one set for the month, one for the day, one for the year, one for the time, and one for the location. Regina put in the necessary details into the machine.

When Regina finished, Sean started the Timegate. There was a loud whirring sound as the Timegate shook, and everyone stepped back from the machine. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash, and the Timegate started working. White and blue energy formed and swirled inside the ring-shaped part of the gate, forming a time-traveling portal. Everyone looked at the machine in awe.

_Oh, my god,_ Regina thought. _I'm really going to do this. I'm really going to save Dylan and Paula! Holy cow!_

Gail, Rick, John, Sean, and Regina stood in front of the portal. The men felt very anxious; they could not believe they were going to jump back in time.

"Ready?" Gail asked the others, trying not to sound nervous.

The guys weakly nodded. Regina gave a thumbs up.

Gail slowly walked up to the Timegate, paused, and walked into the portal. Everyone except Regina leaned back in surprise at the sight of him entering the portal. After a moment of hesitation, Rick was the next one to go in, followed by John and then Sean.

Regina walked up to the portal and stopped. She turned and found David, Paul, and Mark staring at her. She turned her attention back to the portal. _Here we go,_ she thought. She took a deep breath and stepped inside the Timegate.


	19. Saving Lieutenant Dylan

Dylan looked up at the malfunctioning, damaged equipment around him as the facility started self-destruct. He then looked back at Paula—his daughter from another time—whose legs were crushed by a supercomputer.

"Papa," the young, injured girl uttered.

Regina came to his side and crouched. She spoke in an urgent manner. "Dylan, what are we going to do?" she asked him. "If we don't go now, we'll never get back!"

Dylan looked behind him. There was a flash, and the Timegate in the back of the room started working. "Regina," he said. "The gate is open. I know you don't want to, but you'll have to go back by yourself." He then looked back at Paula. "I won't leave Paula."

Regina stood up in alarm. "Are you crazy!?" she exclaimed.

"Just go, please!" Dylan demanded. "You have the Third Energy Data, right?"

Regina pulled out the disk Dylan asked her about and showed it to him. She did not look very happy doing this.

"When you get back to our original time, use the disk to learn about 3rd Energy," Dylan explained. "Then build a perfect gate to come and pick us up from the last time."

Regina took a moment to evaluate Dylan's plan. "I'll...do it," she declared. "I will! I promise!"

Dylan saluted Regina, who returned his salute.

The facility continued to damage itself around them, nearing complete detonation. A feminine, mechanical voice spoke throughout the facility. "Final warning: ten seconds till detonation," it said loudly.

Back in the Timegate room of the facility, Regina continued to talk to Dylan. "Don't forget," she said. "You still owe me one."

Dylan nodded. "Well then," he replied, adding, "you better get back quick."

Regina slowly walked backwards and turned towards the Timegate. She ran up to it, going up some stairs. She stopped in front of the machine and looked back at Dylan, showing a gloomy facial expression. She turned around and ran into the Timegate. The energy in the portal disappeared when she ran through the gate, closing the gate completely.

Stuff continued to explode and malfunction around Dylan and Paula. Several computers started falling around them. Dylan huddled over Paula with his body, shielding her from debris.

"Papa!" Paula exclaimed, becoming more scared than ever.

Dylan heard rumbling and looked to his left. A supercomputer started to fall towards them. Dylan shielded Paula with his body again.

When the supercomputer was just about to crush them, something strange happened. Everything around them paused. It was as if time suddenly stopped.

Dylan noticed the strange phenomenon that just occurred. "Huh?" he wondered, looking around himself. The supercomputer still loomed several inches over him and Paula but was virtually stopped in its tracks. "How can that be?" he asked himself.

Paula also noticed the time stop. "Papa?" she asked Dylan, wondering what just happened.

Dylan tried to figure out what was going on. He then realized why time stopped. _Regina!_ he thought.

Several seconds later, another bright flash occurred, and the Timegate started working again. Dylan and Paula looked towards the Timegate and saw several shadowy figures coming out of the portal. When they all stepped forward, their faces were clearly shown.

"Yes!" Dylan exclaimed.

One of the figures stepped forward again. It was a woman with fair, red hair and a slim, curvy body. She wore a bright smile on her face. "Hi!" she greeted Dylan and Paula. "Long time no see!"

"Regina!" Dylan said. "I knew you would come back for us!"

Regina flipped her hair with her right hand. "I always keep my promise," she said.

One of the other shadowy figures in the room felt more attracted to her than ever. It was, of course, John. _She's so hot!_ he dreamily thought.

Regina brought her attention back to the urgency of the situation. "All right, let's get that giant computer off Paula's legs!" she declared. She turned to the four shadowy figures behind her. "Come on, guys. Help me lift this thing."

The three remaining mysterious figures stepped forward and walked up to the computer, revealing themselves to be Gail, Rick, and Sean. John, however, was still dazed from thinking about Regina.

Gail noticed the frozen supercomputer hovering above Dylan and Paula. He took out a powerful missile gun, aimed it at the computer, and fired several shots. The missiles sharply collided with the supercomputer before knocking it away. Regina, Rick, Gail, and Sean walked up to the supercomputer crushing Paula's legs and stood next to it.

Regina noticed that John was missing. She turned around and found him still in front of the Timegate, appearing to be daydreaming. "John!" she called out to him.

John snapped out of his daze and looked at Regina. "What?" he asked her.

"Come help us lift this thing!" she commanded. "Hurry!"

John ran to one of the sides of the computer. With a mighty heave, everyone slowly lifted the computer off Paula's legs, walked to the side, and dropped it a few feet away from them.

Paula was delighted to have that machine off her legs. She tried to stand up, but the injury to her legs prevented her from standing well. She fell back down. Dylan helped her up and lifted her into his arms. He then looked towards everyone who lifted the computer off her daughter. "Thank you all," he said.

"You're welcome," Sean replied, smiling.

"Now to get back to our own time," Rick said.

"Great," John commented. "Let's go back into the portal."

Right after John finished his sentence, there was a sudden rumbling sound. Everything slowly started to malfunction around them again. Everyone became shocked as the facility was about to resume its self-destruct.

"What the heck's going on!?" Gail shouted, being frightened for once in his life.

"The Third Energy fuel has begun to run out!" Sean shouted.

"Quickly, everyone!" Regina shouted. "Into the portal!"

Everyone in the room scrambled for the portal. Dylan, carrying Paula, ran towards the Timegate, entering the portal. Sean, Rick, and Gail followed him inside.

Regina and John were the last ones in the room. They were running towards the Timegate when a piece of falling tech equipment landed on Regina. She fell to the ground, grabbing her back. "Ow!" she screamed. "Help!"

John stopped in front of the Timegate and ran back to Regina. He saw the large piece of equipment on her back, and with some effort, he pushed it off.

Regina got up and thanked John. John smiled. They ran towards the Timegate again, but another large piece of equipment landed on John this time, pinning him to the ground.

"Ow!" he shouted. "Come on! You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

Regina turned around and saw John on the ground, in desperate need of help. "No!" she screamed. "John!"

All of a sudden, the room violently shook. Regina lost her balance, fell backwards, and stumbled into the Timegate, closing the portal.

"What!?" John screamed in disbelief, as he saw the portal close. "No!" He pounded the ground in anger.

Time was running out. The number of explosions increased in the room. Equipment continued to fall down in the room. Several moments later, the whole facility exploded.


	20. Not Again!

Paul, David, and Mark were in Dr. Kirk's headquarters, watching over Dr. Kirk and Brett. They quietly waited for the others to return from the past.

"I hope they're all right," David said.

"They'll be fine," Mark replied. "They are capable of taking care of themselves."

"But, what if they don't come back?" David asked.

"The real question is: who cares?" Dr. Kirk interjected, tired of listening to this conversation.

"Quiet, you!" Paul barked. He got out the pistol Gail confiscated from Dr. Kirk and pointed it at Dr. Kirk. "Don't make me use this!"

Brett was still struggling to get free. "Get me out of here!" he shouted.

Paul pointed his weapon at Brett. "You shut up, too, or you'll regret it!"

Brett fell silent.

David continued his conversation with Mark. "All I'm saying is that time travel is risky. What if they don't make it back in time?"

"You worry too much, David," Mark said. "They're tough. They'll make it through."

"I don't know...," David replied.

All of a sudden, the Timegate on the blue platform activated. Seconds later, five people came tumbling out of the portal, landing on the platform. David, Paul, and Mark immediately stood up and went to the platform, helping everyone get up.

"You're all back!" David said.

"Awesome!" Paul cheered.

Mark looked around and saw that Gail, Rick, Sean, Paula, and Dylan were present. He noticed that two people were missing. "Where are Regina and John?" he asked.

Everyone looked around the room for Regina and John but couldn't find them.

David got very worried. "What if they didn't make it!?" he shouted.

Dr. Kirk, being the self-centered jerk he is, indifferently commented on the situation again. "Again, who cares? They weren't important, anyway."

Paul pointed his pistol at Dr. Kirk again. "You're still talking?" he asked. "I thought I told you to shut up!"

Dr. Kirk rolled his eyes and became quiet again.

All of a sudden, another figure popped out of the portal and fell on the platform. "Ow!" she cried out, as the portal closed behind her.

"Regina!" Dylan exclaimed, running over to her side and helping her up. "Are you all right?"

Regina dusted herself off. "I think so," she responded. She then remembered John. "Wait! John! What about John?"

"John?" Dylan inquired. "You mean one of the men who helped lift the computer off Paula's legs? I don't know. He didn't come back with us?"

"No!" Regina shouted, turning back towards the Timegate. Unfortunately, it was too late. The portal was already closed. Regina furiously banged on the ringed part of the Timegate. "No! No! No! We have to go back! We have to save him! We just have to!"

Dylan walked up to her side and tried to calm her down. "Regina," he said. "No, we can't save him now."

Regina refused to give up. "No! He's still out there! We have to get him! Back in the facility, he saved me when I was downed by stupid falling equipment, and now he's suffering the same fate and needs my help!" She banged on the Timegate again. "I just had to slip and fall through the portal!"

"It's not your fault, Regina," Dylan assured her. "Anyway, there's nothing you can do now."

"No!" Regina shouted. "We can still save him! We just can't give up!"

Dylan tried even harder to calm her down. "Regina!" he shouted, trying to stop her from banging on the gate. She tried to resist his attempts of stopping her. "Regina! Regi—Regi—Regina! Re—Regina! Calm down! Listen to me!"

"What!?" she screamed at him, her face full of tears.

Dylan was shocked to see the emotional state Regina was in. "Calm down," he said. "There's no more 3rd Energy left to go back in time. We can't save him now." His facial expression became lugubrious. "Besides, it's too late."

Regina squealed in anguish at the realization that she could not save her friend. She collapsed to the ground, crying her eyes out and pounding the platform furiously in anger. She couldn't believe that she left behind someone in the past...again! How could that happen for a _second_ time?

Everyone became silent and grieved for John. That is, everyone except Dr. Kirk and Brett.

"Ha!" Dr. Kirk teased the gang. "That's what you get for stopping the plans of a criminal mastermind like me!"

Even Brett thought that comment was harsh.

Everyone in the room except Regina and Brett shot the mad scientist poisonous looks. Dr. Kirk wasn't phased by their staring in the least. Regina heard Dr. Kirk's vile words. She momentarily stopped her crying, stood up, walked to Dr. Kirk, and powerfully roundhouse kicked him across the face, knocking him out. Everyone in the room almost gasped at the violence.

Regina stood over the scientist, spit on him, and screamed, "Freaking jerk!" She collapsed on the floor again and resumed her crying.

Several minutes later, there was a spark in the air above the Timegate. A bright flash occurred, and a portal formed where the spark was. Everyone looked up at the portal. Several seconds later, someone emerged from the portal and fell down in front of the Timegate, landing on his stomach. "Ow!" he said. "That hurt!" He slowly stood up, revealing himself to be John.

"John?" Regina asked, facing John.

"In the flesh!" John humorously replied.

"John!" Regina exclaimed, running to him.

There were sounds of excitement and joy as everyone huddled around John, very happy to see him.

Regina hugged John tightly for a few seconds. "John, I'm so glad you're back!" she exclaimed. "How did you return to the present time?"

John smiled. "Well," he replied, "it all started after you accidentally tumbled into the Timegate."

Regina cringed. "Right, sorry about that," she said, apologizing.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It's not your fault. Anyway, let me tell you my story..."

–

Regina and John were the last ones in the room. They were running towards the Timegate when a piece of falling tech equipment landed on Regina. She fell to the ground, grabbing her back. "Ow!" she screamed. "Help!"

John stopped in front of the Timegate and ran back to Regina. He saw the large piece of equipment on her back, and with some effort, he pushed it off.

Regina got up and thanked John. John smiled. They ran towards the Timegate again, but another large piece of equipment landed on John this time, pinning him to the ground.

"Ow!" he shouted. "Come on! You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

Regina turned around and saw John on the ground, in desperate need of help. "No!" she screamed. "John!"

All of a sudden, the room violently shook. Regina lost her balance, fell backwards, and stumbled into the Timegate, closing the portal.

"What!?" John screamed in disbelief. "No!" He pounded the ground in anger.

Time was running out. The number of explosions increased in the room. Equipment continued to fall down in the room.

John had to think of a plan to get out of here or else he'd be blown to bits. He tried hard to come up with an idea. Then, it hit him like a cement truck. _Wait!_ he thought. He looked at the time-travel watch on his left wrist. _This could be my ticket outta here!_ John quickly pressed the buttons to enter the details of his destination in time. When he was done, he pressed the "Enter" button. A portal appeared several feet above him. It acted as a personal vacuum, starting to lift him up from the ground and draw him closer to itself. The heavy piece of equipment fell off him as he rose towards the portal. When he reached the portal, he was quickly sucked right into it.

The portal closed immediately afterwards, and the facility exploded a split-second later.

–

"And, that's how I escaped," John said, pointing to the very practical doohickey on his wrist.

"Wow!" Sean commented. "What an amazing story!"

"I'm just glad you made it in one piece!" David added. "Thank god for that watch!"

Regina hugged him tightly again. "Thank you for saving me again," she told him.

John smiled, closed his eyes, and put his hand on the back of his head. "Aw, it was nothing," he replied.

Regina released John, tiptoed so that her face was next to his, and kissed him on the cheek. John instantly felt the kiss. The energy from the kiss was enough to make the hair on his scalp stand on end for several seconds. It was as if he had been directly kissed by the sun, receiving an amazing amount of hot, flaming passion. He immediately blushed. _Wow!_ he thought. _That's one kiss! And, by the woman I love! Awesome!_ John became dazed again, wearing a happy, daydreaming look on his face.

Regina noticed John's condition. "John?" she asked, trying to get his attention. "John? Hello?" John didn't answer her.

Everyone laughed. Paul walked up to Regina, grinned, and said, "Don't worry, Regina. He'll snap out of it eventually."

Regina laughed, realizing what she just did to him. She looked at the front door of the entrance of the building. "Come on, everyone," she said. "Let's go home."


	21. Epilogue

After leaving Dr. Kirk's headquarters, Regina, Rick, Gail, and Dylan returned to their jobs. The government wasn't happy that Regina went behind their backs and used the Timegate to go back in time by herself, but they were satisfied to know that she wasn't completely disregarding her orders. After all, she did rescue a missing survivor.

Regina went back in time with Rick, Gail, Dylan, and many other T.R.A.T. and S.O.R.T. soldiers to the Cretaceous Era in order to save the 1000 survivors. With the help of Paula, who underwent medical therapy for her legs and eventually regained her ability to speak due to intensive speech therapy, everyone was able to safely navigate the jungles, avoid most of the dinosaurs, and find all of the survivors of the 3rd Energy incident. The helmeted people were also found, and with Paula's help, the soldiers were able to communicate with them, persuading them to go back to their own time.

After everyone was returned back to his or her own present time, Paula went to a high-tech facility and used the equipment there to send everything back to its own time, officially finishing Noah's Ark's Plan and ending the human crisis.

As for Dr. Kirk and his lovely assistant Brett, they both were imprisoned in separate, different locations. Dr. Kirk was transported to Africa while Brett was transported to Siberia. In those areas where there are extreme temperatures, one can bet that Dr. Kirk and Brett won't be doing any harm to anyone for a long, long time.

–

Regina and Dylan were in Regina's apartment on one sunny afternoon. Regina was in the kitchen, pouring soft drinks into two cups: one for her guest and one for herself. When she was finished, she took the drinks and walked to the living room.

Dylan was sitting on a large couch in the room, waiting for Regina to return from the kitchen. He smiled when he saw her coming back. "Thank you, Regina," he said, as Regina handed him his drink.

Regina sat down next to him. "You're welcome," she replied.

Dylan took a sip of his drink and put it on a coaster on a table in front of the sofa. He turned to Regina, eager to talk about her journey to rescue him. "So, Regina, it must have been _heck_ trying to save me and Paula," he remarked.

Regina took a sip of her own drink and placed it on another coaster on the table. She faced him and spoke. "You have _no_ idea," she agreed.

Dylan chuckled. "Well, despite all of the trouble you've been through and done—and that's clearly _a lot_—I, on behalf of both my daughter and me, want to thank you again for saving us."

Regina smiled. "You're very welcome, Dylan. I was glad to do it."

"We were scared out of our minds back in that facility! I thought I had done something stupid and crazy by telling you to go back in time to save us, but I didn't give up on you. Thank god I didn't."

"Well, how do you think I feel?" She smiled. "I went on a goose chase around the world completing a mad genius's shopping list! I ran into so much danger!"

"Yeah, that's some crazy stuff. Sorry for putting you through all of that."

"Don't worry about it."

Dylan nodded and took another sip from his drink. "By the way, that was a perfect kick you unleashed on Dr. Kirk's face in his former headquarters. I think you've done what the people who were after him have wanted to do for so long."

Regina laughed. "Thanks. He was an insensitive jerk, anyway. Doing that kick felt so good." She winked at Dylan. "Don't forget; you still owe me one."

Dylan grinned. "Don't worry. I'll repay the favor somehow."

"That's fine. I'm in no rush." Regina moved and sat closer to Dylan. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"Me, too, Regina. Me, too."

"By the way, how's your daughter Paula?"

"Oh, she's fine. When they sent her back to her own time, she undid all of the damage done to the time-space continuum so that none of this mess would ever happen again. At least, that's what I heard she was going to do."

Regina sat up in surprise. "You mean the crisis is officially over?" she inquired.

"I'd say so, yes," Dylan answered. "So, it's a happy day for everyone."

Regina hugged Dylan tightly. "It sure is."

Dylan hugged her back. "I've missed you _so_ much, Regina."

"I've missed you, too, Dylan. I've missed you, too."


End file.
